PCO

PATROL® Configuration ManagerUser Guide

Supporting

PATROL Configuration Manager 1.6

November 2006

Contacting BMC Software

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4 PATROL Configuration Manager User Guide

ContentsChapter 1 Introduction 15

About PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Concepts and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16RuleSet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Statically Linked RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Rule Alias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Configuration Variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Interactions Among PATROL Agent, PATROL Configuration Database, and

PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19PATROL Knowledge Module for Event Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Agent Repository. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Rules Repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Knowledge Module Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Graphical User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22GUI Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Job Status Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Log File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Chapter 2 Setup and Customization of PATROL Configuration Manager 31

Managing Configuration Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Default Initialization File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Backup of Initialization Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Opening a Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Creating a New Configuration File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Storing PATROL Configuration Manager Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Specify the Location of Initialization Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Specify the Location of RuleSet Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Specify the Location of Transaction Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Specify the Location of Backup Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Specify the Location of Queue Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Specify the Location of Image Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Specify the Location of Comments Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Specify the Location of the Log File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Contents 5

Specify the Location of the Error File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Specify the Location of Localized Agent RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Retaining Backups and Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Select Backup Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Select Transaction Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Select Virtual Backup Folder Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Managing Advanced Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Set Default for Reporting Localized Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Determine Whether Agent Authentication Is Used or Ignored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Set the Number of Backup Files Retained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Activate Autosave for Group and Agent Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Changing Graphic User Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Customize the PATROL Configuration Manager GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Sharing a Configuration among Multiple Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Supporting Failover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Overview of the Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Sample Failover Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Chapter 3 Add and Manage Agents and Groups 69

Authentication and Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Security Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Selecting an Agent to Be Managed by PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . . 73Setting Default Agent Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Specifying an Individual PATROL Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Discovering and Adding PATROL Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Creating and Managing Agents in Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Creating Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Organizing Agents into Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Changing Group Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Deleting an Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Deleting a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Locating Agents within PATROL Configuration Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Managing the Agent Process and Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Stopping an Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Reinitializing an Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Reloading the Configuration of an Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Resetting the Configuration of an Agent to Its Default Configuration . . . . . . . . . 88

Managing Agent Accounts and Licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Setting the PATROL Default Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Managing Unique User Names and Passwords for Individual Agents . . . . . . . . 91Updating the PATROL License File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Sharing Agents and Groups among Multiple Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Saving Agent and Group Changes Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Configuring PATROL Configuration Manager for Multiple Users . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Locking Agents and Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Discovering Rule and Configurations Assigned to Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Finding RuleSets Assigned to an Individual Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Locating the Backup Configurations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98


Chapter 4 Report on the PATROL Environment 99

PATROL Configuration Manager Report Sources, Formats, and Constraints . . . . . 100Source of Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Output Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Memory Usage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Permissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Generate a Report Using PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Defining and Generating a Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Automated Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Generating a Report of Local Rules before Applying Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Chapter 5 Work with Rules, RuleSets, and Configurations 111

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Benefits of Rules and RuleSets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Order of Operations for Applying Rules, RuleSets, and Configurations . . . . . . 115

Creating, Managing, and Deleting RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Dragging and Dropping in PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Moving and Copying RuleSets and RuleSet Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Creating a New RuleSet and New RuleSet Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Creating a New RuleSet from an Existing RuleSet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Editing RuleSets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Deleting RuleSets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Assigning RuleSets to Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Sharing and Locking RuleSet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Comparing RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Creating, Editing, and Managing Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Naming Convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Creating a Rule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Copying or Duplicating a Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Editing a Rule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Deleting a Rule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Locating a Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Protecting Rules by Using Local RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Creating Local RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Editing Local RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Overwriting Local RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Listing Localized Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Working with Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Automated Tasks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Manual Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Getting Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Applying Changes to Agent Configurations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Backing Up the Configuration of an Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Contents 7

Purging All Configuration Changes from an Agent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Restoring All Configuration Changes to an Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Automating Updates to RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Types of Automated RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Precedence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Change to the Source Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Activating/Deactivating Statically Linked RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Designating RuleSets to Be Applied to New Agents (ApplyOnNew). . . . . . . . . 152Designating RuleSets to Be Applied After Any RuleSet is Applied

(ApplyOnApply) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Designating Rules to be Updated Automatically (LinkedRuleSets) . . . . . . . . . . 156Identifying Linked RuleSets Associated with an Agent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Accommodating Computer-Specific Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Predefined Rule Aliases (System Variables) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Defining a Rule Alias. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Viewing and Adding Missing Rule Alias. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Chapter 6 Manage Parameters 169

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Thresholds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Range Settings for Monitoring Increasing and Decreasing Parameter Values . . 172Poll Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Establishing Thresholds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Accessing Parameters Threshold Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Specifying a Parameter for Which to Establish Thresholds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Defining Border and Alarm Ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Setting Poll Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180Accessing Parameter Poll Time Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180Specifying a Parameter for Which to Set a Poll Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Defining Collection Cycles by Setting Poll Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Retrieving Customized Parameter Settings and Storing Them as a RuleSet. . . . . . . 184Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184Saving Parameter Settings in a RuleSet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Importing a RuleSet into PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Chapter 7 Establish Notification and Manage Alerts 187

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Notification Rules Stored as pconfig Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Setting Precedence: Rules or KM Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Objects and Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

PATROL Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191


Difference between Blackouts and Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191Recommended Configuration Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193Alert Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Adding Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Removing Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198Setting Override Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Alert Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Setting Up Notification for PATROL Objects in Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201Determining How Many Times Alerts Are Resent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Suppressing Alerts upon Agent Restart to Avoid False Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204Assigning Custom Identifiers to PATROL Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206Turning Monitoring On and Off at the Application Class Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Recovery Action Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Enabling Recovery Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Scope of Commands and Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210Defining Recovery Action Command Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210Defining Recovery Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Notification Configuration and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Designating Who Receives Notifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Designating Type of Notification Sent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Determining from Where Notifications Are Sent and Managed . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221Rewording Notification Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225Message Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228Disabling Notification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230Stopping Notification For Specific Periods (Notification Blackouts). . . . . . . . . . 232

Notification Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235RuleSet Used for Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236Testing Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Chapter 8 Move PATROL Information into PATROL Configuration Manager 241

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242AS_CHANGESPRING KM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Features and Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242Loading the AS_CHANGESPRING KM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243Accessing the KM Commands and InfoBoxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Retrieve, Convert, and Import Information from the PATROL Agent and KMs. . . 245KM Migration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246Naming Convention of RuleSets Created by AS_CHANGESPRING KM . . . . . 246Location and File Name of RuleSets Created by AS_CHANGESPRING KM . . 246Make New RuleSets Available to PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . 247Getting All Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Getting Localized Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Getting Global Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249Getting Global Poll Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250Creating a Default RuleSet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251Updating the PATROL Object List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251Creating RuleSet from Comma-Separated Value Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Contents 9

Converting Parameter Overrides to RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254Turning Off Alarm Ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Import PATROL Console Configuration Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256Conversion Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256Converting PATROL Console Desktop Settings to .ini Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257Importing the Converted Data into PATROL Configuration Manager. . . . . . . . 258

Chapter 9 Command Line Interface 259

Features of the PATROL Configuration Manager CLI Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260Dependencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261Command Line Interface (CLI) Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263Script File Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264Error Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Sample Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268Scheduling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Appendix A Configuration Settings 271

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272Configuration Settings Changed Using the File => Configure Command . . . . . 272Configuration Settings Changed by Editing the PCM.ini File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Appendix B Supported Regular Expressions 281

Appendix C Troubleshooting and Frequently Asked Questions 285

Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286NT_CPU Polltime Changes Are Not Working . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287PATROL Configuration Manager Does Not Start on Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288PATROL Configuration Manager Does Not Start on UNIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289KM Parameters Are Not in the Object Selection List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290Rule Value Length Too Long . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291PATROL Configuration Manager Labels Missing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292PATROL Configuration Manager Does Not Start on Windows with Abnormal

Termination Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293Reporting Generates Infinite Loop Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Frequently Asked Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295How Do I Move PATROL Configuration Manager from UNIX to Windows? . 296What Is the Purpose of the DELVAR Operation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296


FiguresPATROL Configuration Manager Graphical User Interface (GUI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Job Status Information Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Job Log File Viewer Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Configure: Application – Folders / Paths Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Configure: Application Dialog Box – Archive Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Configure: Application Dialog Box – Advanced Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Configure: Application Dialog Box – Fonts / Colors Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62agent.ini Sample Entry for Security Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Configure: Agent Defaults Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Startup Command Line from PCM.sh on Solaris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Startup Command Line in Targets Text Box of Microsoft Windows Shortcut . . . . 103Apply RuleSets Dialog Box – Reporting Localized Rules before Apply . . . . . . . . . 109New RuleSet Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118New RuleSet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119File Locked Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123RuleSet Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Edit Configuration Source File Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129RuleSet Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Edit Rule Variable Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Edit Value for Event Management Rule Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132RuleSet Search Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Local RuleSet Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137New Local RuleSet Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Apply RuleSets Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Example of an ApplyOnNew and LinkedRuleSet in agent.ini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Statically Linked RuleSet Modified Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Group ApplyOnNew Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Group Apply LinkedRuleSet Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Agent Apply LinkedRuleSet Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Search LinkedRuleSets Results Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Rule Aliases: Add Rule Alias Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Missing Rule Aliases Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Rule Aliases: Add Rule Alias Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Thresholds Tab of Parameter Setting Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175Object Selection Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177Border and Alarm Range Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Polltimes Tab of Parameter Setting Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Alert Settings Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195Object Selection Dialog Box – Multiple Hosts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Override Settings Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Figures 11

Alert Settings Dialog Box–Alert Action Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201Alert Settings Dialog Box – Alert Resend Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203Alert Settings Dialog Box – Send Reset On Init Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205Alert Settings Dialog Box – Custom Identifiers Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207Alert Settings Dialog Box – Class Active State Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208Alert Settings Dialog Box – Recovery Action Command Type Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211Alert Settings Dialog Box – Recovery Action Commands Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214Alert Settings Dialog Box – Notification Targets Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217Alert Settings Dialog Box – Notification Command Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220Alert Settings Dialog Box – Notification System Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Alert Settings Dialog Box – Alert Messages Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Alert Settings Dialog Box – Notification Blackouts Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233Blackout Period Selection Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234What If RuleSet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236What If Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237What If Results Dialog Box – Results Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238What If Results Dialog Box – Report Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239AS_CHANGESPRING Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245RuleSet File Name Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246Select the Knowledge Modules Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249Create List Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252Get File Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253Example of pmc_cli_allow_unattended_login.cmd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262Example of pcmcli Interacting with a Policy in Running Attended Mode . . . . . . . . 262PATROL Configuration Manager CLI Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263PATROL Configuration Manager CLI Script File Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264Generate a Report by Using PATROL Configuration Manager CLI on Solaris . . . . 268Schedule a Report on UNIX – crontab Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269Generate a Report by Using PATROL Configuration Manager CLI on Windows . 269Rule Value Length Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291


TablesPATROL Configuration Manager Graphical User Interface (GUI) Properties . . . . . 23Job Status Information Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Ini Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36RuleSet Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Transaction Log Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Agent Configuration Backup Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Queue of Rules to Be Applied Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Image Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Comments Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Log Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Error File Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Local Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Backup Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Virtual Backup Folder Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Foreground/Fonts Colors Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Sample Failover Setup Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Agent Discovery Criteria for RT Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Agent Discovery Criteria for PATROL Ping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Agent Search Criteria Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Security Configuration Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Lock Status, Information, and Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Type of Information Gathered by the Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Order of Operations for Applying Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115RuleSet Comparison Display Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Rule Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127RuleSet Search Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Rule Search Results Report Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Apply RuleSet Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144Automated RuleSet Variable Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Storage Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Group ApplyOnNew Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Group Apply Linked RuleSets Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Agent Apply LinkedRuleSet Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Search LinkedRuleSet Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161Predefined Rule Aliases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Rule Aliases: Add Rule Alias Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Example of Monitoring a Parameter with a Decreasing Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Example of Monitoring a Parameter with an Increasing Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Configuration Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193Override Settings Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Tables 13

Alert Action Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Alert Resend Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204Custom Identifier Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207Class Active State Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Recovery Action Command Type Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212Recovery Action Command Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215Notification Targets Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Notification Command Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221Notification System Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225Notification Subject Line and Message Length Limits by Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226Alert Message Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228Alert Message Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228Types of Notification Blackouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232Notification Blackout Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234Blackout Period Selection Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234What If Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237Accessing KM Commands and InfoBoxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244PATROL Configuration Manager CLI Path and File Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260Location of the pcm_cli_allow_unattended_login Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261pcm_cli_allow_unattended_login Script per Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261PATROL Configuration Manager CLI Options and Arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263PATROL Configuration Manager CLI File Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265PATROL Configuration Manager Configuration Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273Supported Regular Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281


C h a p t e r 1
1 Introduction
This chapter introduces PATROL Configuration Manager. The following topics are discussed:

About PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Concepts and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16RuleSet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Statically Linked RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Rule Alias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Configuration Variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Interactions Among PATROL Agent, PATROL Configuration Database, and

PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19PATROL Knowledge Module for Event Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Agent Repository. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Rules Repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Knowledge Module Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Graphical User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22GUI Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Job Status Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Log File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Chapter 1 Introduction 15

About PATROL Configuration Manager

About PATROL Configuration ManagerThe PATROL Configuration Manager component allows system administrators to focus on the development of business rules by providing the following benefits:

■ separation of business rules from the management tool■ rule management features, such as, basic change control, rule organization, and

rule deployment methods■ manages different PATROL Agent versions on multiple hosts ■ intuitive interface■ ease of use

PATROL Configuration Manager frees administrators from spending excessive amounts of time on PATROL product specifics and enables them to focus on the delivery of an enterprise management solution.

Concepts and DefinitionsBefore you can properly use the PATROL Configuration Manager, you must understand some basic concepts about both PATROL Configuration Manager and PATROL.

Rule

A rule is an instruction to the PATROL Agent on how to update a configuration variable (historically referred to as a pconfig variable) in the PATROL Configuration Database (pconfig) of a PATROL Agent. Each rule consists of a variable to be changed (also referred to as a key), the value, and the operation to be performed on that variable with that value.

When the constituent parts of a rule need to be emphasized, a rule may also be referred to as key/value or key/value/operation.

RuleSet

A RuleSet is a collection of rules that are associated by the user based on user-defined organizing principles. Many of the actions that can be performed on rules, such as Applying, can also be performed on RuleSets. This capability allows a user to apply a large number of rules to an agent or agents efficiently and consistently.


Statically Linked RuleSets


A statically linked RuleSet is a RuleSet that is associated with an agent or group of agents by being placed in the either the ApplyOnNew or LinkedRuleSet container of the respective the agent or group of agents. When a rule belonging to a statically linked RuleSet is updated, PATROL Configuration Manager asks you if you want to apply this change to all of the agent to which the rule is linked.

Rule Alias

A Rule Alias is a variable that enables you to insert in a rule a placeholder that is replaced by a computer-specific value when the rule is applied.

Configuration Variable

In the PATROL Agent, configuration variables control some aspect of agent behavior in which more than one option exist. This behavior includes but is not limited to the agent's interaction with PATROL Knowledge Modules® (KM) and other PATROL components. Historically, a configuration variable has also been referred to as a pconfig variable.

Configuration

A Configuration is a set of configuration variables and their values. At installation, the PATROL Agent starts out with a default configuration. As users customize the behavior of their agent, they change the configuration of the agent. The default configuration is stored in a configuration database file entitled config.default. Changes to these defaults are stored in delta (change files), which contain only those configuration variables that have changed and their updated values.

Many Knowledge Modules add and change configuration variables when you install and/or load them into PATROL. The changes are made by other means than PATROL Configuration Manager.


Interactions Among PATROL Agent, PATROL Configuration Database, and PATROL Configuration Manager

Interactions Among PATROL Agent, PATROL Configuration Database, and PATROL Configuration Manager

PATROL Configuration Manager creates and places these rules in pconfig file format. The configuration manager calls the pconfig utility, which connects to the PATROL Agent and sends the rules. The agent receives the rules, performs the specified operations and stores the key/value in the persistent database.


Components

ComponentsThis section describes the components of PATROL Configuration Manager:

■ user interface■ PATROL KM for Event Management■ agent repository■ rules repository■ managed systems (agents)

The following sections describe the PATROL Configuration Manager components.

User Interface

The PATROL Configuration Manager user interface, shown in “Graphical User Interface” on page 22, configures managed agents and administers rules. The user interface provides features similar to the Windows Explorer interface such as drag and drop and cut and paste.

PATROL Knowledge Module for Event Management

The PATROL KM for Event Management provides notification and alert control. PATROL Configuration Manager provides an interface to the PATROL KM for Event Management commands. When you are using PATROL Configuration Manager, you should have the PATROL KM for Event Management installed on your PATROL Agents. Without the PATROL KM for Event Management, you cannot use the Event Management features such as alert settings and parameter settings of the PATROL Configuration Manager. PATROL KM for Event Management is also required for reporting.

See the PATROL Knowledge Module for Event Management User Guide for more information.


Agent Repository

Agent Repository

The agent repository contains communication settings and grouping information for each agent. The agent repository information is stored in the following files:

■ agents.ini ■ groups.ini

Rules Repository

The rules repository contains the following information:

■ rules and RuleSets■ backup agent configurations■ recent transaction history■ localized agent RuleSets

The rules repository contains rules that are installed with the PATROL Configuration Manager and user-defined rules.

Rules are logically grouped to form RuleSets. For example, rules could be grouped according to their related action or object:

■ notification type—all rules that apply to e-mail notifications could be grouped into a RuleSet

■ object—all rules pertaining to an agent parameter could be grouped into a RuleSet

RuleSets can be grouped together into folders. While you usually manage your RuleSets and folders with PATROL Configuration Manager, the RuleSets are stored in text files and can be managed using standard system utilities such as text editors and file management utilities. The RuleSets are in the same format as standard PATROL Agent configuration files (.cfg).

Knowledge Module Plug-ins

Plug-ins are utilities that provide knowledge module-specific graphical user interfaces that assists users in configuring multiple rules to address complex product configuration needs.


Knowledge Module Plug-ins

For example, configuring the PATROL Knowledge Module for UNIX to monitor log files requires the creation of 4 or 5 rules that are interdependent. Thus, the PATROL for UNIX product provides a plug-in that enables a user to create these rules simultaneously. The plug-in coordinates the rule creation, preventing conflicts between rules and checking for error.

These utilities interact with the PATROL Configuration Manager, but are loaded and accessed through one of the PATROL Consoles.


Graphical User Interface

Graphical User InterfaceThe sections highlights the features of the PATROL Configuration Manager Graphical User Interface (GUI) and describes the controls that the GUI offers.

GUI Controls

Figure 1 provides a sample of the PATROL Configuration Manager Graphical User Interface (GUI). Table 1 describes the various GUI controls built into the interface.

Figure 1 PATROL Configuration Manager Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Table 1 describes the controls on the PATROL Configuration Manager GUI.

RuleSet tree view panemessage paneAgents tree view pane

tool barmenu bar


GUI Controls

Table 1 PATROL Configuration Manager Graphical User Interface (GUI) Properties (part 1 of 5)

GUI Control Description

Menu barThe menu bar contains commands to manage configuration items and to manipulate the GUI.

File The File menu contains commands to modify and open PATROL Configuration Manager configurations as well as exiting the configuration manager. The File menu contains the following menu commands:

■ Save—command saves changes to agents, groups, RuleSets, and configuration settings in the PATROL Configuration Manager configuration files

■ Open—opens and loads a configuration file, which specifies the directories and default settings to use as the current PATROL Configuration Manager configuration

■ Configure—opens the Configure dialog box that is used to change the settings, directories, and files used by PATROL Configuration Manager for storing agent and RuleSets information

■ Reload—reloads the PATROL Configuration Manager data

■ Exit—closes PATROL Configuration Manager

Edit The Edit menu contains commands for dragging and dropping items within the GUI. These commands are used in conjunction with the View and Focus commands. The Edit menu contains the following commands:

■ Drag Left—takes currently selected configuration tree item and prepares it to be dropped onto the agent tree

■ Drag Right—takes currently selected agent tree item and prepares it to be dropped onto the configuration tree

■ Drop—assign the dragged item to the currently selected item

■ Cancel Drop—cancel the current drop operation

The actions performed by these commands can also be performed with the mouse.


GUI Controls

View The View menu contains commands for navigating and managing the tree view panes. These commands are used in conjunction with the Edit and Focus commands. The View menu contains the following commands:

■ Expand All—expands all folders

■ Expand—expands selected folder(s)

■ Collapse All—collapses all folders

■ Collapse—collapses selected folder(s)

■ Tree View—display variable names in either a slash mode (elements of the name are separated by a forward slash) or a hierarchical mode (elements of the name are displayed as branch in a tree)

The actions performed by these commands can also be performed by the corresponding buttons.

Focus The Focus menu contains commands for placing focus on either the Agents tree view pane or the RuleSets tree view pane. These commands are used in conjunction with the Edit and View commands. The Focus menu contains the following commands:

■ Agents—place focus on the Agents tree view pane■ RuleSets—place focus on the RuleSets tree view pane

The actions performed by these commands can also be performed with the mouse.

Queue The Queue menu contains commands for applying agent rules. The Queue menu contains the following commands:

■ Clear—clears all rules waiting to be applied to agents■ Apply—transfers all rules waiting to be applied to the PATROL

Configuration Manager queue folder for processing.




GUI Controls

Tools The Tools menu contains commands for manipulating PATROL Agents. The Tools menu contains the following commands:

■ Discover Agents—find PATROL Agents that can be registered to PATROL Configuration Manager and managed by it

■ Reporting—provides information for selected agents; this information can be saved in a number of different formats

■ Set Default Account—changes the default account on a PATROL Agent

■ Reload Agent—forces a reload of the selected agents config.default file and the agents change configuration file.

■ Purge Agent—purges all non-default or changed agent configuration variables for the selected agents

■ Reinitialize Agent—restarts the selected agents

■ Kill Agent—stops the selected agents

■ Update License—applies a PATROL license file to the selected PATROL Agents

Other The Other menu contains commands to manipulate the PATROL Configuration Manager display. The Other menu contains the following commands:

■ Refresh RuleSets—forces a refresh of the entire RuleSet tree view and collapses open folders

■ Clear Status Window—clears the Message pane at the bottom of the PATROL Configuration Manager GUI

■ View Job Status—displays the Job Status Information dialog box, which shows the status of the last completed task. A permanent status summary can be obtained from the PATROL Configuration Manager log file that is specified in the PATROL Configuration Manager initialization file. The default log file is PCM.log located in the installation directory.

■ Display Tooltips—either turns the ToolTips display on or off depending on the current setting; when Display ToolTips is on, a short description of the rule pops up when the mouse hovers over a rule

■ ApplyOnNew Activated —either activates or deactivates the ApplyOnNew containers; when this option is activated, any agent that is added to a group with rules in the ApplyOnNew container has the rules in the container applied at the time the agent is added, and a change to any RuleSet or RuleSet folder that is referenced by a container automatically prompts you to update agents to which the RuleSet is assigned




GUI Controls

Help The Help menu command provides information about PATROL Configuration Manager with the About command.

■ Help Topics—launches the PATROL Configuration Manager help■ About—displays the PATROL Configuration Manager version and copyright

information

Tool barThe PATROL Configuration Manager toolbar contains buttons that provide quick access to common configuration manager commands.

Save saves changes made to agents and RuleSets to the directories specified in the current PATROL Configuration Manager initialization file

Changes are also saved by selecting File => Save from the Menu bar.

Get creates copies of agent configurations in the PATROL Configuration Manager backup folder that is displayed in the RuleSet tree view

The agent configuration is timestamped with the date and time that the get was performed. To get copies of agent configurations, select one or more agents in the Agent tree view and click the Get Configuration button. Agent configurations can also be retrieved by right-clicking on an agent and choosing Configuration => Get.

Apply transfers all rules applied to agents to the PATROL Configuration Manager queue for processing

This action can also be performed by selecting Queue => Apply from the Menu bar.

Search RuleSets

searches folders or RuleSets for rule items

A folder or RuleSet must be selected in order to perform a search. This action can also be performed by selecting Queue => Apply from the Menu bar.

Expand All expand the tree in the tree view pane that has focus

Expand expand the selected portion of the tree in the tree view pane that has focus

Collapse All collapse the tree in the tree view pane that has focus

Collapse collapse the selected portion of the tree in the tree view pane that has focus




GUI Controls

TreeView displays the rule name of a rule in hierarchical mode or slash (/) path mode

■ slash path mode

■ hierarchical mode

Agents tree view pane displays the agents to be managed by PATROL Configuration Manager

acts as the base container for all agent and group information

stores and organizes agents into groups

stores and organizes agent data

designates rules to be applied to agents when they are added to a group

associates RuleSets or RuleSet folders with agents or groups; this container is used to distribute updates of rules when the original ruleset or rulesets contained within a ruleset folder are changed

RuleSet tree view pane displays the rules, RuleSets and configurations that can be applied to agents

stores and organizes Rule Sets

stores and organizes rules

stores and organizes PATROL Configuration Manager-specific information such as backup configurations, local rules, queued rule sets, and transaction logs

Message pane displays system messages and the status of requested operations




Job Status Information

Job Status InformationA single configuration manager operation such as applying configurations to hundreds of agents or getting configurations from hundreds of agents can take several minutes and result in various outcomes due to a multitude of factors such as an agent being offline or a configuration database being corrupted.

The Job Status Information dialog box reports the progress and ultimate status of each operation on a per agent basis.

Access

When you perform a configuration operation, PATROL Configuration Manager automatically displays the Job Status Information dialog box. You can also access the dialog box from the Menu bar.

To view job status information

From the Menu bar, choose Other => View Job Status. PATROL Configuration Manager displays Job Status Information dialog box, which lists the last operation that it performed.

Viewer

PATROL Configuration Manager presents job status information in a dialog box. Figure 2 on page 29 provides a sample of the Job Status dialog box.

NOTE Select the Redisplay when updated check box to have PATROL Configuration Manager automatically open the Job Status Information dialog box whenever the job status information is updated. If do not select, this option the Job Status Information dialog box is not opened automatically.


Viewer

Figure 2 Job Status Information Dialog Box

Table 2 describes the information provided by the Job Status Information dialog box.

Table 2 Job Status Information Properties

Field Description

Time displays the date and time at which the operation began

The format is CCYYMMDD-HHMMSS.

Agent lists the agent on which the operation is being performed

Action lists action to be performed by the configuration manager on the configuration variable specified by a rule

Status lists the current status of the operation; the dialog box color codes each job based upon its current status

RUNNING—the operation is being processed (color = white)

STOPPED—a user has intervened and manually stopped the job (color = yellow)

OK—the operation completed successfully (color = green)

FAILED—the operation failed (color = red)


Log File

Diagnostics

If an operation fails, the PATROL Configuration Manager records the failure in its log file. You can view the log messages for an operation through the Job Status Information dialog box.

To view log file

1 Open the Job Status Dialog box. For instructions for opening the dialog box, see “To view job status information” on page 28.

2 Place the cursor on the operation whose log entries you want to view.

3 Right-click.

The Job Status Information dialog box displays a pop-up menu.

4 Choose View Log File.

The Job Status Information dialog box displays the Job Log File Viewer dialog box as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 Job Log File Viewer Dialog Box

5 Scroll through the text to determine the cause of the result of the operation.

Log File

A permanent job status summary can be obtained from the PATROL Configuration Manager log file, whose location is specified in the PATROL Configuration Manager initialization file.

The default log file is PCM.log located in the installation directory. For more information about the log file, see “Specify the Location of the Log File” on page 46.


C h a p t e r 2
2 Setup and Customization of PATROL Configuration Manager
This chapter describes how to designate locations (paths and filenames) for PATROL Configuration Manager information. It also describes how to customize the user interface by allowing you to choose fonts, colors, and other graphical user interface (GUI) attributes. The following topics are discussed:

Managing Configuration Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Default Initialization File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Backup of Initialization Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Opening a Configuration File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Creating a New Configuration File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Storing PATROL Configuration Manager Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Specify the Location of Initialization Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Specify the Location of RuleSet Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Specify the Location of Transaction Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Specify the Location of Backup Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Specify the Location of Queue Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Specify the Location of Image Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Specify the Location of Comments Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Specify the Location of the Log File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Specify the Location of the Error File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Specify the Location of Localized Agent RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Retaining Backups and Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Select Backup Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Select Transaction Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Select Virtual Backup Folder Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Managing Advanced Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Set Default for Reporting Localized Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Determine Whether Agent Authentication Is Used or Ignored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Set the Number of Backup Files Retained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Activate Autosave for Group and Agent Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Changing Graphic User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Customize the PATROL Configuration Manager GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Sharing a Configuration among Multiple Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66


Supporting Failover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Overview of the Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Sample Failover Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67


Managing Configuration Files

Managing Configuration FilesThe PATROL Configuration Manager stores information about its own set up and configuration in an INI file. Multiple PATROL Configuration Manager initialization files can exist but the configuration manager can open and read only one at a time.

The Configure dialog box changes are applied to the PATROL Configuration Manager initialization file that is opened by clicking OK.

Default Initialization File

On UNIX platforms, the initialization file that is used can be specified by the environment variable, CS_INI. If the CS_INI environment variable is not set, the default initialization file is the PCM.ini file located in the $BMC_ROOT\pconfmgr\ini directory.

On Windows platforms, the initialization file that is used can be specified in a shortcut. The default initialization file is the PCM.ini file located in the $BMC_ROOT/pconfmgr/ini directory.

You can open other initialization files or create new initialization files.

Backup of Initialization Files

Whenever you modify content that is stored in one of the initialization (*.ini) files listed below and save the configuration by selecting File => Save, PATROL Configuration Manager creates a backup copy of the .ini file before writing the new changes to the file.

The following initialization files are backed up.

■ PCM.ini

■ agents.ini

■ groups.ini

■ rulealiases.ini

For information about setting the number of backups, see “Set the Number of Backup Files Retained” on page 60.


Opening a Configuration File

Opening a Configuration File

The configuration file is stored in the ini folder.

To open a configuration file

1 In the PATROL Configuration Manager, choose File => Open

2 Navigate to the desired configuration file.

3 Choose the file and click Open.

Creating a New Configuration File

To create a new configuration file

1 Perform the steps in “Opening a Configuration File” on page 2-34.

2 Click Save As on the Configure dialog box.

3 Specify the new file name.

4 Click Save.


Storing PATROL Configuration Manager Data

Storing PATROL Configuration Manager DataPATROL Configuration Manager is itself able to be configured. This section describes the ways in which you can customize the configuration manager to perform optimally in your environment.

The tasks described in this section are all performed using the Folders / Paths tab of the Configure: Application dialog box shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4 Configure: Application – Folders / Paths Tab


Specify the Location of Initialization Files

Specify the Location of Initialization Files

PATROL Configuration Manager stores configuration information in *.ini files.

■ PATROL Agent configuration information is stored in agents.ini. ■ User interface configuration information is stored in ui.ini.■ Configuration information about groups of agents is stored in groups.ini.■ Rule Alias definitions are stored in the rulealiases.ini.

Attributes of Configuration Information

Table 3 lists the attributes of the information stored in the configuration file for configuration files.

To Determine the Location of the Configuration Information

1 From the Menu Bar, choose File => Configure => Application.

2 Click on the open file icon to the right of the Ini Folder text box.

3 Navigate to the directory in which you want to store configuration information.

4 Click Open to save the path.

Table 3 Ini Folder

Configuration Value

Configuration Variable ini_dir

Type of Information directory

Default Value BMC_ROOT/pconfmgr/ini


Specify the Location of RuleSet Files

Specify the Location of RuleSet Files

PATROL Configuration Manager stores RuleSets files (*.cfg) and their organizing folders and groups directories. The default subdirectories created at install time are

■ PCM

■ Shipped

Attributes of RuleSet Information

Table 4 lists the attributes of the information stored in the configuration file for RuleSets.

To Determine the Location of the RuleSet Information


2 Click on the open file icon to the right of the RuleSet Folder text box.

3 Navigate to the directory in which you want to store RuleSets configuration information. All users that will be creating RuleSets need read/write/execute permissions for this directory.


Table 4 RuleSet Folder

Configuration Value

Configuration Variable ruleset_dir


Default Value BMC_ROOT/pconfmgr/rulesets


Specify the Location of Transaction Files


PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to determine where it stores transaction log files.

Definition and Purpose

Transaction logs record which rules have been applied to an agent. Use them as the configuration history of the agent.

Format, Path, and Naming Convention

The files are text files with a *.cfg extension. The default subdirectory created at install time is tlog.

../tlog/agent_display_name/datestamp-timestamp.cfg



Attributes of Transaction Log Information

Table 5 lists the attributes of the information stored in the configuration file for transaction logs.

To Determine the Location of the Transaction Log Information


2 Click on the open file icon to the right of the Transaction Folder text box.

3 Navigate to the directory in which you want to store transaction log information.


Table 5 Transaction Log Folder

Configuration Value

Configuration Variable tlog_dir


Default Value BMC_ROOT/pconfmgr/rulesets/PCM/tlog


Specify the Location of Backup Files


PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to determine where it stores agent configuration backup files, which enable you to restore an agent to its previous configuration.


Backup RuleSets are created when you perform a Get Configuration or Get Configuration with Defaults on an agent. Depending upon which menu command you choose, the resulting backup file contains either

■ any changes/addition to the agents configuration—that is any additions or changes to the values stored in the config.default that was installed with the agent

■ any changes/addition to the agents configuration as well as all default values stored in config.default

The Backup RuleSets can be used to rollback to a previous agent configuration. You can also use them to verify which rules have been applied to an agent.


The files are text files with a *.cfg extension. The default subdirectory created at install time is backup.

../backup/agent_display_name/datestamp-timestamp.cfg

Attributes of Backup Information

Table 6 lists the attributes of the information stored in the configuration file for backups of agent configurations.

Table 6 Agent Configuration Backup Folder

Configuration Value

Configuration Variable backup_dir


Default Value BMC_ROOT/pconfmgr/rulesets/PCM/backup



To Determine the Location of the Backup Information


2 Click on the open file icon to the right of the Backup Folder text box.

3 Navigate to the directory in which you want to store Backup information.



Specify the Location of Queue Files

Specify the Location of Queue Files

PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to determine where it temporarily stores rules that are to be applied to selected agents.


Queue files are RuleSets that are currently being applied to agents. These files are temporarily stored in the Queue directory and then deleted once the rules have been applied to the designated agents. If the rules are not applied for whatever reason, the RuleSet file remains in the Queue directory. Use these files to determine whether the application of a RuleSet was successful.


The files are text files with a *.cfg extension. The default subdirectory created at install time is queue.

../queue/agent_display_name/datestamp-timestamp.cfg

Attributes of Queue Information

Table 7 lists the attributes of the information stored in the configuration file for the queue of rules to be applied to agents.

To Determine the Location of the Queue Information


2 Click on the open file icon to the right of the Queue Folder text box.

3 Navigate to the directory in which you want to store queue information for rules to be applied.


Table 7 Queue of Rules to Be Applied Folder

Configuration Value

Configuration Variable queue_dir


Default Value BMC_ROOT/pconfmgr/rulesets/PCM/queue


Specify the Location of Image Files

Specify the Location of Image Files

PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to determine where it stores graphic images for use in customizing the interface.


The images directory is used to store graphic files. Use these graphics to customize the interface by specifying your own icons, logos, and other graphics. To conserve disk space and to ensure that multiple installations of the PATROL Configuration Manager use the same graphics, place the files in a shared location and point the images to it.


The files are binary files with a *.gif extension. The default subdirectory created at install time is images.

../images/graphic_filename.gif

Attributes of Image Information

Table 8 lists the attributes of the information stored in the configuration file for image files.

To Determine the Location of the Images


2 Click on the open file icon to the right of the Images Folder text box.

3 Navigate to the directory in which you want to store images for rules to be applied.


Table 8 Image Folder

Configuration Value

Configuration Variable images_dir


Default Value BMC_ROOT/pconfmgr/images


Specify the Location of Comments Files


PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to determine where it stores comments for RuleSets.


Comment files are text files that contain

■ system-generated change entries■ user-entered information

Each comment file is associated with an individual RuleSet. Use them to view information (explanations, warnings, etc.) added by other users as well as yourself and descriptions of changes made to the RuleSet.


The files are text files with a *.txt extension. The PATROL Configuration Manager automatically generates the filename of the comments file based on the relative path of the RuleSet. The default subdirectory created at install time is comments.

../comments/1st_directory_name.2nd_directory_name.Nth_directory_name.ruleset_name.txt

Attributes of Comments Information

Table 9 lists the attributes of the information stored in the configuration file for the comments files.

EXAMPLE For a RuleSet stored at ../ruleset/db_servers/finance/EOM_settings.cfg, PATROL Configuration Manager will create a comment file for that RuleSet with the name db_servers.finance.EOM_settings.txt.

Table 9 Comments Folder

Configuration Value

Configuration Variable comments_dir


Default Value BMC_ROOT/pconfmgr/comments



To Determine the Location of the Comments Information


2 Click on the open file icon to the right of the Comments Folder text box.

3 Navigate to the directory in which you want to store comments information.



Specify the Location of the Log File


PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to determine where it stores its log file.


The log file is a record of every configuration action (get, apply, etc.) performed using the PATROL Configuration Manager. The contents of the log file includes

■ the date and time of the action■ the name of the user who performed the action■ the action■ the display name of the agents on which the action was performed■ the status (success or failure) of the action

Use the log file to review what actions have been performed, on which agents the actions were performed, which users performed the actions, and whether or not those actions were successful.


The file is a text file with a *.log extension. The default name is PCM.log. The default location of the log file is pconfmgr.

../PCM.log



Attributes of the Log File

Table 10 lists the attributes of the information stored in the configuration file for the log files.

To Determine the Location of the Log File Information


2 Click on the open file icon to the right of the Log File text box.

3 Navigate to the directory in which you want to store log file information.

4 Type the logfile name. The default name is PCM.log.

5 Click Open to save the filename.

Table 10 Log Folder

Configuration Value

Configuration Variable logfile

Type of Information file

Default Value BMC_ROOT/pconfmgr/PCM.log


Specify the Location of the Error File

Specify the Location of the Error File

PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to determine where it stores the error file.


The error file is a record of every error received when doing any PATROL Configuration Manager tasks. The contents of the error file includes

■ the date and time of the action■ the security level■ the error message■ other error information

Use the error file to review the errors.


The file is a text file with a *.err extension. The default name is PCM.err. The default location of the error file is pconfmgr.

../PCM.err

Attributes of the Error File

Table 11 lists the attributes of the information stored in the configuration file for the error files.

Table 11 Error File Folder

Configuration Value

Configuration Variable errorfile

Type of Information file

Default Value BMC_ROOT/PCM.err


Specify the Location of Localized Agent RuleSets

To Determine the Location of the Error File Information


2 Click on the open file icon to the right of the Error File text box.

3 Navigate to the directory in which you want to store error files.

4 Type the error file name. The default name is PCM.err.

5 Click Open to save the filename.


PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to determine where it stores unique rules that are specific to an agent.


Localized RuleSets allow you to specify rules that are specific to a particular agent. These rules are exceptions to global rules for individual agents. They cannot be overridden by the application of a global RuleSet. Use them where necessary to customize the configuration of an agent.


The files are text files with a *.cfg extension. The default subdirectory created at install time is local.

../PCM/local/agent_display_name.cfg

Attributes of Localized Agent RuleSet Information

Table 12 lists the attributes of the information stored in the configuration file for the localized agent RuleSet files.

Table 12 Local Folder (part 1 of 2)

Configuration Value

Configuration Variable local_dir



To Determine the Location of the Local Information


2 Click on the open file icon to the right of the Local Folder text box.

3 Navigate to the directory in which you want to store localized agent ruleset information.



Default Value BMC_ROOT/PCM/local

Table 12 Local Folder (part 2 of 2)

Configuration Value


Retaining Backups and Operations

Retaining Backups and OperationsPATROL Configuration Manager enables you to determine how much historical information is retained. This section describes

■ how many sets of backups are retained and the organizational structure in which they are stored

■ how many apply operations are recorded and saved

The tasks described in this section are all performed using the Archives tab of the Configure: Application dialog box shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 Configure: Application Dialog Box – Archive Tab


Select Backup Settings


PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to manage your agent configuration backups. You can set the number of backups that PATROL Configuration Manager retains for each agent, determine whether backups are saved before they are applied to selected agents, and choose whether backups are made of configurations that have not changed since the last backup was made.

Scope

These settings apply to all agents.

Options

Table 13 lists the options available for Backup Settings.

To Select Backup Settings


2 Select Archives tab.

3 Make your selections based on the “Options” on page 2-52.

4 Click OK to save the settings.

Table 13 Backup Settings

Field Description

Backups sets the number of configuration backups that you want to keep for each agent

Save Backup Before Apply retrieves backup of the current agent configuration and saves it in the PATROL Configuration Manager backup folder before applying new RuleSets

This feature allows you to quickly and easily restore an agent’s configuration if you make an error applying RuleSets.

Save Identical Backups retrieves configurations from agents and makes backups of the configurations regardless of whether an agent’s configuration has changed since the last backup

If this option is not selected, PATROL Configuration Manager does not save the agent configuration if it is identical to the most recent backup for the agent. By not selecting this option, you minimize the amount of disk space used to store backups.


Select Transaction Settings

Select Transaction Settings

PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to manage how many Apply operations are saved in the transaction log folder.

Scope


Option

You can choose to retain as few as 1 or as many as you perform (Unlimited).

To Select Transaction Settings



3 In the Transaction Logs list box, choose a number or the word Unlimited.



Select Virtual Backup Folder Settings


PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to determine how it organizes and presents agent configuration backups.

Scope


Options

Table 14 lists the options available for Virtual Backup Folder Settings.

Results

These values work together to manage the display of the virtual agent backup folders. For example, if both values are set to five, the first five backups go into one directory. Then the next five backups go into a new virtual directory. This continues until there are five directories with five backups each. At this point, the maximum folders and the minimum agents per folder reach their limits, and as new backups are created, they are added to each folder in turn.

Table 14 Virtual Backup Folder Settings

Field Description

Maximum Folders sets the maximum number of virtual folders that are created for backups

Minimum Agents Per Folder sets the number of agent backups that are created in a virtual backup folder before a new folder is created.

EXAMPLE If the Maximum Folder = 5 and the Minimum Agents Per Folder = 5; PATROL Configuration Manager creates Folder1 and fills it with the minimal number of agents, 5, in this case Agents1-Agent5. When Folder1 is filled with the minimum number of agents, PATROL Configuration Manager creates Folder2 and fills it with the minimum number of agents, in this case Agents6-Agent10. This process continues until the maximum number of folders are created, 5, and each folder is filled with the minimum number of agents. The result is that Folder5 contains Agent20-Agent25. After these criteria are met, PATROL Configuration Manager adds Agent26 to Folder1, Agent27 to Folder2, Agent28 to Folder3, and so on.



To Select Virtual Backup Folder Settings



3 In Maximum Folder text box of the Virtual Backup Folder Settings pane, type the maximum number of virtual backup folders that you want PATROL Configuration Manager to create.

4 In Minimum Agents Per Folder text box of the Virtual Backup Folder Settings pane, type the minimum number agents that you want to store in each virtual backup folder.


NOTE If you change the Virtual Backup Folder Settings, you must refresh the RuleSets tree view or restart PATROL Configuration Manager to view the changes within the interface.


Managing Advanced Settings

Managing Advanced SettingsPATROL Configuration Manager provides some additional controls over various aspects of the utility. This section describes how to

■ set the default for generating a report of localized rules before an apply operation is performed

■ determine the frequency with which agent authentication is performed

■ determine the number of backup file retained

■ turn on the autosave feature for group and agent configuration data

The tasks described in this section are all performed using the Advanced tab of the Configure: Application dialog box shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6 Configure: Application Dialog Box – Advanced Tab


Set Default for Reporting Localized Rules

Set Default for Reporting Localized Rules

PATROL Configuration Manager enables you to set a default value for the Report Local Rules Before Apply option whenever an apply operation is performed.

Scope

This setting applies to all apply operations to groups and agents.

Option

You can set the default for all apply operations by selecting or deselecting the check box.

To Set Default for Reporting Localized Rules

1 From the menu bar, choose File => Configure => Application.

2 Select Advanced tab.

3 In the Local Rules pane, set the default.

■ select Report Local Rules Before Apply check box to automatically generate a report of localized rules before performing an apply

■ deselect Report Local Rules Before Apply check box to perform an apply operation without first generating a report of localized rules



Determine Whether Agent Authentication Is Used or Ignored

Determine Whether Agent Authentication Is Used or Ignored

PATROL Configuration Manager enables you to control when it informs you of the success or failure of authentication. The configuration manager provides this information in the Job Status Information dialog box. The Use Authentication option, set in the Agent Properties dialog box, instructs the configuration manage to attempt to authenticate to the agent, which may or may not require authentication to establish a connection.

You would enable the Use Authentication option in conjunction with the rule /AgentSetup/pconfigRequiresAuthentication to prevent unauthorized users from having the ability to configure the agent. You would use the Verification of Agent Identification option to let you know whether the /AgentSetup/pconfigRequiresAuthentication rule is set on an agent (not set, or set to 0, results in an ‘ignored’ message), and if it is, whether authentication is successful.

Scope

This setting applies to all agents.

Option

You can set the default for all agents by selecting or deselecting the check box.

To Determine Whether Agent Authentication is Used or Ignored



3 In the Verification of Agent Identification pane, set the default.

■ None—do not use agent authentication

■ Verify on each configuration job—use the user name and password stored in the Secure Key Store for the respective agent to verify the configuration manager’s identity every time the manager interacts with the agent and prevent unauthorized users from making configuration changes

■ Verify only when agent added—use the user name and password stored in the Secure Key Store for the respective agent to verify the configuration manager’s identity when registering an agent to the configuration manager



Set the Number of Backup Files Retained

Set the Number of Backup Files Retained

PATROL Configuration Manager enables you to determine how many backup versions of initialization (*.ini) files are retained.

Whenever you modify content that is stored in one of the initialization (*.ini) files listed below and save the configuration by selecting File => Save, PATROL Configuration Manager creates a backup copy of the .ini file before writing the new changes to the file. The previous version of the .ini file is renamed to filename.ini~# in which the most recent backup does not have a number following the tilde (~). The agent.ini file and three of it’s backup files would be listed as agents.ini, agents.ini~, agents.ini~1, and agents.ini~2.

This information is stored in the variable, max_ini_backups.

Scope

The following initialization files are backed up.

■ PCM.ini

■ agents.ini

■ groups.ini

■ rulealiases.ini

Option

The default number of back up is 2. You can change the number of backups retained.

To Set the Number of Backups of Initialization Files Retained



3 In the File Backup Settings panel, in Maximum .ini file backups to keep enter the number of backups you want. Zero (0) indicates that no backups will be made or retained.



Activate Autosave for Group and Agent Data

Activate Autosave for Group and Agent Data

By default, PATROL Configuration Manager does not save changes made to the information that it maintains for agents and groups until you perform a save by choosing File => Save or clicking on the Save button.

PATROL Configuration Manager enables you to save group and agent information automatically when a change to that information occurs.

Scope

This setting applies to the groups.ini and agents.ini files.

Option

You can enable or disable the automatic saving feature.

To Enable Autosave



3 In the Auto-Saved panel, select Auto-save enabled.



Changing Graphic User Interface

Changing Graphic User InterfacePATROL Configuration Manager enables you to determine how the appearance of graphical user interface (GUI). This section describes how to manipulate the colors and fonts of the GUI to meet your needs.

The tasks described in this section are all performed using the Fonts / Colors tab of the Configure: Application dialog box shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7 Configure: Application Dialog Box – Fonts / Colors Tab


Customize the PATROL Configuration Manager GUI


PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to choose the color and fonts that the GUI uses when presenting its objects and controls.

Scope

These settings apply to the PATROL Configuration Manager GUI only.

Options

Table 15 lists the options available for PATROL Configuration Manager GUI. The fields and the characteristics that they define do not apply to all GUI objects and controls.

Table 15 Foreground/Fonts Colors Settings

Field Description

Scheme determines whether PATROL Configuration Manager GUI uses the default settings or the custom setting that you define

Item designates the GUI object or control whose characteristics you want to customize

Item Color defines the color of the GUI object or control specified in the Item text box

Font defines the font of the text in the GUI object or control specified in the Item text box

Foreground/Font Color defines the color of the font for the text in the GUI object or control specified in the Item text box and the color of the foreground for those items with both foreground and background colors but no fonts

Font Size defines the size of the font for the text in the GUI object or control specified in the Item text box

Font Style: Bold defines as bold or unbold the style of the font for the text in the GUI object or control specified in the Item text box

Font Style: Italic defines whether the text in the GUI object or control specified in the Item text box is italicized



List of Objects and Controls

The GUI objects and controls that you can customize include

■ Compare Window Text - First■ Compare Window Text - Second■ Controls■ Lock Status - Locked■ Lock Status - Reload Warning■ Lock Status - Unlocked■ Menus■ Scroll Bars■ Shadow■ Shadow - Dark Shadow■ Shadow - Highlight■ Shadow - Light Highlight■ Status Window - Failed■ Status Window - OK■ Status Window - Stopped■ Tables■ Text (Highlight)■ Text (Inactive)■ Text (Normal)■ Tool Tips■ Trees■ Window Borders■ Window Captions (Active)■ Window Captions (Inactive)■ Windows

To Customize the PATROL Configuration Manager GUI


2 Select Fonts / Colors tab.

3 From Scheme list box, select Custom.

4 From Item list box, choose the object or control that you want to customize.

The bottom portion of the dialog box is the sample pane. It displays the settings. As you change the settings in step 5—step 9, the sample pane reflects those choices.



5 From Item Color list box, choose a color.

6 From the Font list box, choose a font.

7 From the Foreground/Font Color list box, choose a color.

8 From the Font Size list box, choose a size ranging from 8 to 56.

9 In the Font Style text boxs, choose the appropriate check box to italicize and/or bold the text.



Sharing a Configuration among Multiple Users

Sharing a Configuration among Multiple UsersIn large enterprises, several people can be in charge of managing the configuration of PATROL throughout the enterprise. PATROL Configuration Manager can be set up to allow multiple installations of the configuration manager in different locations and to share the same setup and configuration data. Sharing a configuration can be achieved by

■ Sharing the same configuration file, PCM.ini, (stored in a globally accessible location) and the same directories in a common location

■ Using individual configuration files, PCM.ini, (stored locally) that all point to the same directories in a common location

Supporting FailoverPATROL Configuration Manager provides failover support from one computer to another. However, to implement this support, you must perform a few set up tasks.

Overview of the Process

1 Install PATROL Configuration Manager on both the primary and secondary computers.

2 Copy the Secure Key Store (pcm.kdb) from the primary computer to corresponding location on the secondary computer.

3 Copy the rulesets, ini, comments directories to the secondary computer.

4 Make a copy of PCM.ini for backup purposes and store it outside of the %BMC_ROOT% directory structure.

5 Open PCM.ini on the primary computer using a text editor and record the values of the following variables.

■ ess_bin_dir■ ess_jar_path■ bin_dir

On the secondary computer, open the PCM.ini and update the variables to correspond with the failover configuration.


Sample Failover Setup


Table 16 is a high-level overview of the steps you would take to set up PATROL Configuration Manager to failover from an instance running on a Windows platform to one running on UNIX (specifically Solaris).

Table 16 Sample Failover Setup Process

Order Procedure

1. Install PATROL Configuration Manager on a Windows computer, configure, and test set up.

2. Install PATROL Configuration Manager on my Solaris host.

3. Copy the following directories and their content.

■ %BMC_ROOT%\pconfmgr\rulesets■ %BMC_ROOT%\pconfmgr\comments■ %BMC_ROOT%\pconfmgr\ini

4. Paste the directories in the $BMC_ROOT directory on the Solaris computer.

5. Copy the pcm.kdb file from %BMC_ROOT%\pconfmgr\security\sks\ to $BMC_ROOT/common/security/sks/ on the Solaris computer.

6. Start PATROL Configuration Manager on the Solaris computer. The configuration manager informs you that all the directories are invalid. Use the Configure: Application dialog box (File => Configure => Application) to update the directories.

7. On the Windows computer (primary), make a copy of PCM.ini and store it outside of the %BMC_ROOT% directory structure.

8. On the Windows computer (primary), using a text editor, open PCM.ini, locate the following variables and record their value.


9. On the UNIX computer (secondary), using a text editor, open PCM.ini, locate the following variables and change their values to correspond to the failover configuration.


For example,

ess_bin_dir=C:\Program Files\BMC Software\pconfmgr\common\security\bin_v3.0\Windows-x86

would become

ess_bin_dir=/opt/bmc/pconfmgr/common/security/bin_v3.0/solaris-2-8-sparc


C h a p t e r 3
3 Add and Manage Agents and Groups
In PATROL, configurations are managed at the agent level. PATROL Configuration Manager requires you to identify which PATROL Agents you want it to manage. Once you have registered or added an agent with the configuration manager, you can associate it in groups with other agents to more easily manage large numbers of similar agents. This chapter presents the following topics:

Authentication and Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Security Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Selecting an Agent to Be Managed by PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . 73Setting Default Agent Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Specifying an Individual PATROL Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Discovering and Adding PATROL Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Creating and Managing Agents in Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Creating Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Organizing Agents into Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Changing Group Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Deleting an Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Deleting a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Locating Agents within PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Managing the Agent Process and Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Stopping an Agent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Reinitializing an Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Reloading the Configuration of an Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Resetting the Configuration of an Agent to Its Default Configuration . . . . . . . . . 88

Managing Agent Accounts and Licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Setting the PATROL Default Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Managing Unique User Names and Passwords for Individual Agents . . . . . . . . 91Updating the PATROL License File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Sharing Agents and Groups among Multiple Users. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Saving Agent and Group Changes Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Configuring PATROL Configuration Manager for Multiple Users. . . . . . . . . . . . 96Locking Agents and Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Discovering Rule and Configurations Assigned to Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Finding RuleSets Assigned to an Individual Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Locating the Backup Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98


Authentication and Security

Authentication and SecurityPATROL Configuration Manager is equipped with two security features. These features include

■ specifying at which PATROL security level the configuration manager will communicate with an agent

■ providing user credentials to prove the identity of the user

For instructions on how to set the security level and use authentication, see either “Setting Default Agent Values” on page 73 or “Specifying an Individual PATROL Agent” on page 74.

Security Levels

When registering an agent with the PATROL Configuration Manager and establishing how the configuration manager will communicate with an agent (port number, protocol, and hostname), you can also specify the security level at which they communicate.

Storage

The security level is defined for each agent. The level is saved in the seclevel variable in the agents.ini file as shown in Figure 8.

Default

The default security level for all agents being registered to PATROL Configuration Manager is set in the Configure: Agent Defaults dialog box as shown in Figure 9 on page 73.

If you do not designate a security level in the agent defaults dialog box or in the Agent Properties dialog box, PATROL Configuration Manager defaults the security level to 0. At security level zero, an entry in the agents.ini is not required for PATROL Configuration Manager to function properly.

Figure 8 agent.ini Sample Entry for Security Level

[accts-payable-srvr-1]parent=host=accts-payable-srvr-1port=2934seclevel=3


Authentication

Dependencies

Communicating with an agent at a designated security level requires both the PATROL Agent 3.5.00 or later and the PATROL Configuration Database (also referred to as the pconfig utility) 3.6.00 or later.

Authentication

PATROL Configuration Manager retrieves the user credentials stored in the Secure Key Store and uses them to access PATROL components such as agents, which control access to their individual configuration databases. The components use the credentials to verify or prove the identity of the user. This process of verifying a user’s identity is called authentication and it is used in some but not all of the configuration manager operations.

For information about how to set up and manage user credentials in the Secure Key Store, see “Managing Unique User Names and Passwords for Individual Agents” on page 91.

Usage

PATROL Configuration Manager uses the Secure Key Store to authenticate user credentials during the following operations:

■ generating reports with PATROL Configuration Manager

■ retrieving objects from PATROL Agent when using the Event Management plug-in to manage alert settings and parameter settings

■ using secure PATROL Configuration Database (pconfig utility), which requires that the configuration manager provide user credentials to the PATROL Agent every time it attempts to perform an operation such as an apply or get


Authentication

Dependencies

Authentication requires PATROL Agent 3.6.00 or later and PATROL Configuration Manager must be running PATROL Configuration Database (pconfig utility) 3.6.00 or later. For secure PATROL Configuration Database (pconfig utility),

■ the agent must have the configuration variable /AgentSetup/pconfigRequiresAuthentication equal to 1

■ the Use Authentication check box must be selected in the PATROL Configuration Manager agent properties for the agent; this option instructs the configuration manage to attempt to authenticate to the agent, which may or may not require authentication to establish a connection

Results

To learn the results of authentication, you would use the Verification of Agent Identification option to let you know whether the /AgentSetup/pconfigRequiresAuthentication rule is set on an agent (not set, or set to 0, results in an ‘ignored’ message), and if it is, whether authentication is successful. The results are reported in the Job Status Information dialog box.

For more information about this feature, see “Determine Whether Agent Authentication Is Used or Ignored” on page 59.


Selecting an Agent to Be Managed by PATROL Configuration Manager

Selecting an Agent to Be Managed by PATROL Configuration Manager

PATROL Configuration Manager provides two ways in which you can identify a PATROL Agent to PATROL Configuration Manager and designate that it manage that agent. The two methods are

■ specifying a individual agent■ searching a host or IP Address and range of port numbers to identify and specify

multiple agents

Setting Default Agent Values

PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to set the default values for an agent. Therefore, if you attempt to add an agent, PATROL Configuration Manager populates the New Agent dialog box with these values.

The values for which you can set defaults are

■ port number■ communication protocol■ security level■ use of authentication during configuration operations

To Set Default Values for Agents

1 From the menu bar, choose File => Configuration => Agent Defaults.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Configure: Agent Defaults dialog box as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9 Configure: Agent Defaults Dialog Box


Specifying an Individual PATROL Agent

2 In the IP Port text box, type the port number on which a majority of your agents listen.

3 In the IP Protocol list box, choose the communication protocol used by the agent.

■ TCP■ UDP

4 In the Security Level list box, choose the security level at which you want to the PATROL Configuration Manager to connect to PATROL Agents. The security level that you enter must match the security level at which the agents are running. If you leave this field blank, it defaults to level 0.

5 In the Use Authentication check box, select this option if you want pconfig to verify the user credentials stored for the agent in the Secure KeyStore of the configuration manager.

6 Click OK to save the default values that you have entered.


Perform this procedure if you have a small number of agents that you want to manage. You will need to know the hostnames of the computers on which those agent are running and the port numbers on which those agents are listening.

To Add an Agent

1 In the Agent tree view (the left pane of the PATROL Configuration Manager interface), right click the Agent folder or the group folder in which you want to place an agent.

2 From the pop-up menu, choose New => Agent. Configuration manager displays the New Agent dialog box.

NOTE The default port number for the PATROL Agent is 3181.

NOTE PATROL Agent must be 3.6.00 or later and the PATROL Configuration Database (pconfig utility) must also be 3.6.00 or later. If this option is not selected the Job Status Information dialog box reports “Authentication ignored.” If the agent or pconfig is earlier than 3.6.00, the Job Status Information dialog box reports “Authentication unsupported.”



3 In the Hostname text box, type a DNS name or IP Address.

4 In the Display Name text box, type the name that you want to PATROL Configuration Manager to associate with this agent. Only alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9), hyphens (-), and underscores (_) are valid.

5 In the Port text box, type the port number on which this agent is listening.

6 In the Protocol list box, choose the communication protocol used by most of the agents.

■ TCP■ UDP

7 In the Security Level list box, choose the security level at which you want to the PATROL Configuration Manager to connect to PATROL Agents. The security level that you enter must match the security level at which the agents are running. If you leave this field blank, the security level defaults to the level specified in the Configure: Agent defaults dialog box. If the level is not set in that dialog box, the security level defaults to zero (0).

8 In the Use Authentication check box, select this option if you want pconfig to verify the user credentials stored for the agent in the Secure KeyStore of the configuration manager.

9 Click OK.

The configuration manager adds the agent to the Agent tree view.

NOTE PATROL Agent must be 3.6.00 or later and the Patrol Configuration Database (pconfig utility) must also be 3.6.00 or later. If this option is not selected the Job Status Information dialog box reports “Authentication ignored.” If the agent or pconfig is earlier than 3.6.00, the Job Status Information dialog box reports “Authentication unsupported.”


Discovering and Adding PATROL Agents


If you have a large number of agents that you want to register with the PATROL Configuration Manager, perform this procedure to discover all of the agents and register the ones that you want.

Types of Agent Discovery Methods

PATROL Configuration Manager provides two methods for discovering agents:

■ discover agents that are registered to the RT Server cloud■ discover agents through PATROL Ping

The discovery method that you choose depends upon what versions of PATROL are running in your enterprise and which agents you want to manage. The RTserver method identifies agents that use RTservers and Console Servers to communicate with consoles, which occurs exclusively in a PATROL 7 installation. The PATROL Ping method identifies agents in both PATROL 3 and PATROL 7 installations. As search criteria, the wizard uses the agent properties defaults and supplements them with the protocol and port number that you provide the wizard.

Results

The results of the discovery do not include the security level of the agent or whether the agent requires authentication when establishing a connection to it.

To Locate Multiple Agents in an RT Server Cloud and Register Them

1 From the menu bar, choose Tools => Discover Agents.

PATROL Configuration Manager opens the Discover Agents Wizard to the Overview pane.

2 Review the steps outlined in the wizard and then click Next.

3 On the Discovery Type pane, choose Search a PATROL RT Server cloud and then click Next.

4 On the Agent Search Criteria pane, define your search.



5 Click Next.

The wizard begins searching for agents based upon the criteria that you specified. To interrupt the search, click Stop.

6 When the wizard finishes its search, click Next to view the results.

7 In the Discovery Results pane, from the Discovered Agents list box choose the agents that you want to manage and click Add.

■ To manage all the agents discovered by the wizard, click Add All.

■ To remove agents from management, use the Remove and Remove All.

Table 17 Agent Discovery Criteria for RT Server

Field Description

RT Server Locator String enter RT Server locator string in the format: protocol:hostname:portnumber

protocol—udp for or tcp for TCP/IPhostname—localhost or the name of the computer on which the RT Server residesportnumber—the port number on which the RT Server is listening

To discover agents in multiple RT Server clouds, you can enter multiple RT Server locators, separated by a space. The default value is tcp:localhost:2059.

Agent Name Filter limits the search results to agents that match the criteria specified in this field

The following options enable you to refine your filtering:

■ Partial String Match— include the agent in the search results if part of its name matches the filter string

■ Use Regular Expressions—enables you to use regular expressions to create your Agent Name Filter

(This panel does not have a label.)

specifies the type and amount of information reported by the search

■ Include Domain Name in Discovered Host Names—determines whether agent names include the domain in which the agent resides

■ Show Existing Agents—determines if agents that are already registered with the configuration manager are included in the discovery results



8 Click Next. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Summary pane.

9 To exit the wizard, click Close.

To Locate Multiple Agents through PATROL Ping and Register Them

1 From the menu bar, choose Tools => Discover Agents.

PATROL Configuration Manager opens the Discover Agents Wizard to the Overview pane.

2 Review the steps outlined in the wizard and then click Next.

3 On the Discovery Type pane, choose Search the network using PATROL Ping and then click Next.

4 On the Agent Search Criteria pane, define your search.

NOTE Before you move on to the next pane, you can change the agent display name that PATROL Configuration Manager will use and the communication protocol with which it will communicate to the agent.



Table 18 Agent Discovery Criteria for PATROL Ping (part 1 of 2)

Field Description

Host Name or Address the DNS name or IP Address of the computer on which the PATROL Agent resides

The name must be valid and conform to the rules of hostnames. Characters can be alphanumeric, a period (.), and a dash (-). The name cannot be longer than 255 characters.

You can further refine the results of an agent discovery by selecting one or more of the following options:

■ Include Entire Class-C Subnet— searches the entire Class-C subnet (defined by the first 3 octets, aaa.bbb.ccc, of the IP Address, aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd) on which the computer designated in the Host Name or Address text box resides

■ Include Domain Name in Discovered Host Names—list the domain to which the computer belongs

■ Show Existing Agents—display the names of agents already being managed by the configuration manager

Port Range enter the port number or range of ports on which the agent or agents might be listening. Enter ranges in regular expression format. For example, enter (3|4)[0-9]{3} to search ports ranging from 3000 to 4999.

The range defaults to 3181-3181, the default port for the PATROL Agent. You can also leave this field blank to search.all ports.



5 Click Next.

The wizard begins searching for agents based upon the criteria that you specified. To interrupt the search, click Stop.

6 When the wizard finishes its search, click Next to view the results.

7 In the Discovery Results pane, from the Discovered Agents list box choose the agents that you want to manage and click Add.

■ To manage all the agents discovered by the wizard, click Add All.

■ To remove agents from management, use the Remove and Remove All.

8 Click Next. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Summary pane.

9 To exit the wizard, click Close.

Protocol choose the communication protocol, which is either TCP/IP or UDP

Timeout specify the amount of time in seconds that the discovery process waits for a response before it quits.

Due to the differences in implementation between TCP and UDP, this feature works differently base upon the chosen protocol.

■ For TCP, the timeout is the time that the discovery process waits to receive a response to a connection request or to any PATROL communication. Normally, a TCP connection request is accepted or rejected very quickly, and the timeout period rarely expires.

■ For UDP, the time out is the time that the discovery process waits for any response after the last packet has been sent out. Because UDP is connectionless, the process must wait for the entire length of the timeout period to ensure that a response does not get lost from a slow network.

NOTE Before you move on to the next pane, you can change the agent display name that PATROL Configuration Manager will use and the communication protocol with which it will communicate to the agent.

Table 18 Agent Discovery Criteria for PATROL Ping (part 2 of 2)

Field Description


Creating and Managing Agents in Groups

Creating and Managing Agents in GroupsThe PATROL Configuration Manager provides the concepts of Groups. Groups allow users to organize agents into logical groupings. Each group possesses its own ApplyOnNew container, which applies rules contained within it to any agents added to that group. Groups can be nested and contain subgroups. Many of the actions that can be performed on agents can be performed on groups. This capability allows you to consistently and quickly organize and manage large numbers of agents.

Creating Groups

In the Agent tree view pane, you can create groups at the top of the hierarchy or within other groups.

To Create a Group

1 In the Agent tree view pane, right-click the Agent folder or Group folder to which you want to add a group.

2 Right-click the folder and choose New => Group.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the New Group dialog box.

3 In the Group Name text box, type the name of the group. Only alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9), happens (-), and underscores (_) are valid.

4 Click OK to create the group.

Organizing Agents into Groups

Once you have established the groups into which you want to organize your agents, you must move the agents into the groups. Within the Agent tree view pane, the PATROL Configuration Manager supports dragging and dropping.

To Organize Agents into Logical Groups

1 Choose the agent that you want to move into a group. If you want to move more than one agent, press and hold CTRL as you choose multiple agents.

2 Drag the agent to the group folder. If you are moving multiple agents, press and hold SHIFT as you drag the agents.


Changing Group Properties

Changing Group Properties

In PATROL Configuration Manager, the group is an organizing construct that enables you to arrange agents in groups that are meaningful to you and reinforce logical relationships in your environments. Such relationships could be geographic (East Coast US, Siberia, Latin America), application-centric (Human Resources Data Base, Mail Server, Online Order Forms), or service-oriented (Oracle databases, Domain Name Servers, Web Services).

A group’s only editable property is its name.

To Rename Group

1 In the Agent tree view pane, right-click the group whose name you want to change.

2 From the pop-up menu, choose Properties. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Group Properties dialog box.

3 In the Group Name text box, delete the existing name and type a new one. Only alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9), happens (-), and underscores (_) are valid.

4 Click OK. PATROL Configuration Manager changes the name of the group and displays the new name in the Agent tree view pane.

Deleting an Agent

Deleting an agent unregisters the agent from PATROL Configuration Manager. This task does not remove the agent from the computer on which it is running. Delete an agent when you no longer want to manage it with the configuration manager.

To Delete an Agent

1 In the Agent tree view pane, right-click the agent that you want to delete.

2 From the pop-up menu, choose Delete.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Confirm Delete Items dialog box, which asks you if you are sure that you want to delete this agent.

3 Click Yes.


Deleting a Group

If the agent is duplicated in other groups, PATROL Configuration Manager redisplays the Confirm Delete Items dialog box, which informs you that multiple copies of this agent exist and asks you if want to delete them all.

4 Click Yes if you want to delete this agent from the configuration manager. Click No if you just want to delete this instance of the agent.

PATROL Configuration Manager removes the agent as you specified.

Deleting a Group

Deleting a group unregisters the agents that belong to that group and any of its subgroups from PATROL Configuration Manager. This task does not remove the agents from the respective computers on which they are running.

To Delete a Group

1 In the Agent tree view pane, right-click the group that you want to delete.

2 From the pop-up menu, choose Delete. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Confirm Delete Items dialog box.

3 Click Yes. PATROL Configuration Manager removes the group and all its agents and subgroups.

Locating Agents within PATROL Configuration Manager

When managing hundreds or even thousands of agents, finding a single one by scrolling through the Agent tree view pane can be difficult. PATROL Configuration Manager enables you to search for an agent or agents based upon the following criteria:

■ Display name in PATROL Configuration Manager■ Hostname■ Port number■ Protocol

WARNING When you delete a group, you also delete all the agents and subgroups that belong to that group. If an agent is duplicated in another group, that instance of the agent is not deleted.


Locating Agents within PATROL Configuration Manager

To Search for an Agent within PATROL Configuration Manager

1 In the Agent tree view pane, right-click any agent or group.

2 From the pop-up menu, choose Search => Agents. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Agent Search dialog box.

3 In the Agent Search dialog box, define your search by filling in the appropriate text boxes.

4 Click Search.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Agent Search Results dialog box.

5 In the list of found agents, choose the one you want to view and then click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager closes the search dialog box and highlights (places focus on) and displays the agent in the Agent tree view pane.

Table 19 Agent Search Criteria Properties

Field Description

Display Name the user-defined name displayed by PATROL Configuration Manager

Hostname the DNS name or IP Address of the computer on which the PATROL Agent resides

The name must be valid and conform to the rules of hostnames. Characters can be alphanumeric, a period (.), and a dash (-). The name cannot be longer than 255 characters.

Port Number enter the port number or range of ports on which the agent or agents might be listening

Enter ranges in regular expression format. For example, enter (3|4)[0-9]{3} to search ports ranging from 3000 to 4999. You can also leave this field blank to search all ports.

Protocol the communication protocol used by the agent

Valid values are TCP, UDP, and ANY, which means that an agent using either TCP or UDP to communicate will qualify as a match.


Managing the Agent Process and Configuration

Managing the Agent Process and Configuration

PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to control certain aspects of the PATROL Agents that it manages. These capabilities include

■ Process— stopping an agent— restarting an agent

■ Configuration— reloading the configuration of an agent— resetting the configuration of an agent to the default configuration created at the

time of installation■ Account

— setting the PATROL default account— creating unique user names and passwords for individual agents

■ License— updating the PATROL license file

Stopping an Agent

PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to stop a single agent or a large number of agents with ease of a single menu command.

To Stop an Agent

1 In the Agent tree view pane, choose the agent that you want to stop.

2 From the menu bar, choose Tools = >Kill Agent. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Confirm Kill Agents dialog box.

3 Click Yes. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Job Status Information dialog box.

4 If you want to be notified of the stop jobs outcome (success or failure), choose the Redisplay When Updated check box.

5 Choose the job that you submitted and click OK. You can identify the job by the time-date stamp, the agent against which the action will be performed, and the action, in this case KILL.


Reinitializing an Agent

6 If you selected the Redisplay When Updated check box, PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Job Status Information dialog box when it attempts to stop the agent and informs you of its success or failure.

Reinitializing an Agent

PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to stop and restart, also referred to as reinitializing, a single agent or a large number of agents with ease of a single menu command. This procedure can be used to stop and restart an agent.

To Stop and Restart an Agent

1 In the Agent tree view pane, choose the agent that you want to stop and restart.

2 From the menu bar, choose Tools = >Reinitialize Agent. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Confirm Reinitialize Agents dialog box.


4 If you want to be notified of the reinitialize jobs outcome (success or failure), choose the Redisplay When Updated check box.

5 Choose the job that you submitted and click OK. You can identify the job by the time-date stamp, the agent against which the action will be performed, and the action, in this case RESTART.

6 If you selected the Redisplay When Updated check box, PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Job Status Information dialog box when it attempts to restart the agent and informs you of its success or failure.


Reloading the Configuration of an Agent

Reloading the Configuration of an Agent

PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to reload the most recent configuration (also known as the last configuration changes) to the agent. PATROL Configuration Manager checks to see if a newer version of config.default exists. If so, it loads that file and then reapplies any configuration changes that are stored in the PATROL Configuration Database (pconfig utility).

To Reload the Most Recent Configuration of an Agent

1 In the Agent tree view pane, choose the agent whose most recent configuration you want to reload.

2 From the menu bar, choose Tools = >Reload Agent. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Confirm Reload dialog box.


4 If you want to be notified of the reload job’s outcome (success or failure), select the Redisplay When Updated check box.

5 Choose the job that you submitted and click OK. You can identify the job by the time-date stamp, the agent against which the action will be performed, and the action, in this case RELOAD.

6 If you selected the Redisplay When Updated check box, PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Job Status Information dialog box when it attempts to reload the most recent configuration of the agent and informs you of its success or failure.


Resetting the Configuration of an Agent to Its Default Configuration

Resetting the Configuration of an Agent to Its Default Configuration

PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to set the configuration of an agent to its default configuration. In PATROL, this action is also referred to as purging the configuration because it removes or purges all the configuration changes made to the agent since it was installed.

Before You Begin

Backup the configuration of the agent. Creating a backup RuleSet provides you a means to restore the configuration of the agent.

To Purge the Configuration of an Agent

1 In the Agent tree view pane, choose the agent whose configuration you want to reset to the default configuration.

2 From the menu bar, choose Tools = >Purge Agent. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Confirm Purge dialog box.


4 If you want to be notified of the purge job’s outcome (success or failure), selected the Redisplay When Updated check box.

5 Choose the job that you submitted and click OK. You can identify the job by the time-date stamp, the agent against which the action will be performed, and the action, in this case PURGE.

6 If you selected the Redisplay When Updated check box, PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Job Status Information dialog box when it attempts to purge the configuration of the agent and informs you of its success or failure.


Managing Agent Accounts and Licenses

Managing Agent Accounts and LicensesThe PATROL Configuration Manager enables users to change the PATROL Agent Default Account for an agent and update the license file used by that agent. PATROL Configuration Manager also provides a secure method for storing user names and passwords. This information is used by PATROL Configuration Manager to provide extensive and detailed reporting on the agents that it manages.

A user must be granted access (explicitly or implicitly through group membership or an ‘allow everyone’ setting) by the ACL of the agent to connect to an agent and modify properties of the agent.

Setting the PATROL Default Account

PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to change the PATROL Default Account used by the agent.

Before You Begin

To change the default account of a PATROL Agent,

■ the account that you are using must be granted configuration permissions in the agent’s ACL, which is stored in the pconfig variable /AgentSetup/accessControlList

■ the pconfig variable /AgentSetup/pconfigRequiresAuthentication must be set to 0 or not exist

To Change the PATROL Default Account of an Agent

1 In the Agent tree view pane, choose the agent whose PATROL default account you want to change.

2 From the menu bar, choose Tools = >Set Default Account. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Set PATROL Agent Default Account dialog box.

NOTE If the password for the operating system account that you use as the PATROL Default Account changes, you must change the password for this account in PATROL.

However, this feature does not change the operating system account. To change the password for the account at the operating system level, you must use the appropriate operating system utility.


Setting the PATROL Default Account

3 In Account Name, type the user name of the account that you want to make the default account.

4 In New Password, type the password for the account and then retype it in Confirm New Password.

5 Click OK. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Job Status Information dialog box.

6 If you want to be notified of the job’s outcome (success or failure), select the Redisplay When Updated check box.

7 Choose the job that you submitted and click OK. You can identify the job by the time-date stamp, the agent against which the action will be performed, and the action, in this case APPLY.

8 If you selected the Redisplay When Updated check box, PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Job Status Information dialog box when it attempts to change the default account of the agent and informs you of its success or failure.


Managing Unique User Names and Passwords for Individual Agents


PATROL Configuration Manager provides a way for you to store securely authentication credentials for individual agents and manage these credentials. This procedure describes how to add and remove from the keystore user name and password information about a per agent basis.

Secure KeyStore

PATROL Configuration Manager uses Secure Key Store database to store and protect authentication credentials (user names and passwords) for either individual agents, system-specific credentials, or all agents, default credentials.

User Credentials Precedence

When retrieving user credentials from the Secure Key Store, PATROL Configuration Manager searches for a system-specific entry. If no system-specific credentials are defined, the configuration manager uses the default credentials. If neither set of user credentials exists, the configuration manager cancels the operation.

Password Management for Secure Key Store

The default password for the Secure Key Store installed with PATROL Configuration Manager is password. To change this password, use the PATROL Security utilities, sslcmd. This utility is located in BMC_ROOT\common\security\bin_v30.

For more information about how to use the security utility, see the PATROL Security User Guide.

WARNING The Secure Key Store installed with the PATROL Configuration Manager contains trial keys and certificates that are distributed to and possessed by every user that installs PATROL Configuration Manager. BMC Software recommends that you acquire and use your own keys and certificates.

For information about how to configure PATROL Configuration Manager securely in your environment, see the PATROL Security User Guide.



Password Management for Agents

The authentication requirement is defined for each agent, and it is saved in the agents.ini file using the variable authreq. If authreq is not defined, PATROL Configuration Manager defaults to no authentication required. An entry in the agents.ini is not required for the configuration manager to function properly.

To Store in the Secure KeyStore Unique User Names and Passwords for Individual Agents

1 From the menu bar, choose File = >Configure => Security. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Enter Secure KeyStore Password dialog box.

2 Type the password in Password text box. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Configure: Security dialog box.

3 Click Add. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Add: Agent Authentication dialog box.

4 Specify the agents and their user names and passwords.

If you want to store a default user name and password to be used for all agents except those with individual credentials, enter default in the Agent text box and provide a user name and password.

5 Click OK. PATROL Configuration Manager saves information and lists it in the dialog box.

6 Click OK. PATROL Configuration Manager closes the dialog box.

Table 20 Security Configuration Properties

Field Description

Agent the display name of a PATROL Agent

<default> – The user name and password associated with this entry are used for all agents that do not have an individual entry in the keystore.

Username the account name for the PATROL default account

Password the corresponding password for the PATROL default account

Save Permanently saves the user name and password in the secure keystore

If you do not select this option (indicated by a check mark), the user name/password is stored in memory and will expire and be lost when you end the current PATROL Configuration Manager session.


Updating the PATROL License File

To Remove Unique User Names and Passwords for Individual Agents from the Secure KeyStore

1 From the menu bar, choose File = >Configure => Security. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Enter Secure KeyStore Password dialog box.

2 Type the password in Password text box. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Configure: Security dialog box.

3 Choose the agent whose user name and password you want to delete from the Secure Keystore.

4 Click Remove. PATROL Configuration Manager removes the entry from the dialog box.

5 Click OK. PATROL Configuration Manager closes the dialog box.


PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to update the PATROL License file used by a PATROL Agent. PATROL license files have a .lic extension.

To Update the PATROL License File of an Agent

1 In the Agent tree view pane, choose the agent or agents whose license you want to update.

2 From the menu bar, choose Tools = >Update License.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Open dialog box.

3 Navigate to the location of the license file with which you want to update the selected agents, choose the file, and click Open.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Confirm Update License dialog box.

4 Click Yes.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Job Status Information dialog box.

NOTE The default password is password. To change this password, use the appropriate security utilities.



5 If you want to be notified of the update license job’s outcome (success or failure), select the Redisplay When Updated check box.

6 Choose the job that you submitted and click OK. You can identify the job by the time-date stamp, the agent against which the action will be performed, and the action, in this case LICENSE.

7 If you selected the Redisplay When Updated check box, PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Job Status Information dialog box when it attempts to update the license for the agent and informs you of its success or failure.


Sharing Agents and Groups among Multiple Users

Sharing Agents and Groups among Multiple Users

PATROL Configuration Manager supports multiple users sharing one set of agents and groups by locking the agent.ini file or group.ini file when one user is actively changing the agents or groups in the Agents tree view. The lock indicator is displayed in the bottom, left-hand corner of the PATROL Configuration Manager main window, below the Agent tree view.

Saving Agent and Group Changes Automatically

By default, PATROL Configuration Manager does not save changes made to the information that it maintains for agents and groups until you perform a save by choosing File => Save or clicking on the Save button. By setting the autosaved_enabled variable to true in the PCM.ini file, you can set PATROL Configuration Manager to automatically and immediately save agent and group information when a change is made to their respective data.

For information about how to activate the autosave feature, see “Activate Autosave for Group and Agent Data” on page 61.


Configuring PATROL Configuration Manager for Multiple Users

Configuring PATROL Configuration Manager for Multiple Users

PATROL Configuration Manager can be installed in different locations and configured to allow these multiple installations to share the same setup and configuration data.

■ One configuration involves designating a single PATROL Configuration Manager as the primary manager and then configuring all other installations of the configuration manager to map to the primary installations .ini files.

■ A second configuration involves storing the configuration manager .ini files on a network share and then mapping all the configuration manager to the network share and directory.

For more information, see “Sharing a Configuration among Multiple Users” on page 66.

Locking Agents and Groups

PATROL Configuration Manager supports multiple users sharing one set of agents and groups. To prevent conflicts with overwriting and lost updates, when one user is manipulating an agent or group, PATROL Configuration Manager locks the objects and their corresponding .ini files so that other users will not attempt to update the same objects.

Applicable Only to Multiple Users

This section discusses how PATROL Configuration Manager implements file locking to protect Agents and Groups. Locking only applies, and thus lock indicators are only shown, when one or more users are sharing configurations. If you do not share configuration, you will not utilize PATROL Configuration Manager locking feature.

Types of Locks

PATROL Configuration Manager uses two types of locks:

■ group lock–A group lock indicates that another user is editing the PATROL Configuration Manager groups. You cannot edit the groups when a group lock exists, but you can still edit agents within the groups.

■ agent lock–An agent lock indicates that another user is editing the PATROL Configuration Manager agents.


Locking Agents and Groups

■ RuleSet lock—PATROL Configuration Manager also provides locking for RuleSets, which is not covered in this section. For more information, see “Sharing and Locking RuleSet” on page 122.

Status of Locks

Locks in PATROL Configuration Manager can have one of two statuses: locked or unlocked. PATROL Configuration Manager indicates that either agents and/or groups are locked by placing a red lock icon or unlocked by placing a yellow unlock icon in the bottom, left corner of the PATROL Configuration Manager main window, below the Agent tree view.

Table 21 lists the types of locks, displays their respective icons, describes what information is available for them through tool tips, and describes the effects that each status has upon agents and groups within PATROL Configuration Manager.

NOTE If another user deletes an agent group, PATROL Configuration Manager locks both the agents and groups because it does not know what groups are deleted until the other user saves. If the agents are not locked when a group is deleted by another user, you could add an agent to a group that no longer exists.

NOTE PATROL Configuration Manager supports simultaneous locking of Agents and Groups. If the agents and groups are locked by a user, PATROL Configuration Manager publishes information about both locks in the tool tip.

Table 21 Lock Status, Information, and Behavior

Status Icon Tool Tip Information Effect and Action

Lock hovering your cursor over the lock reveals

■ lock type (agent or group)■ date and time the lock was created■ user name of the lock owner■ hostname where the lock exists■ IP address of lock owner■ X Window display name, if available

When locked, the menu commands for editing the agents or groups are unavailable.

Unlock When the lock is released, your menu commands for editing the unlocked objects are unavailable until you refresh the Agents tree view.

After being unlocked, the configuration must be reloaded before menu commands agents or groups are available.

To Reload the Configuration, click the unlock icon and then click Yes in the Reload Configuration dialog box.


Discovering Rule and Configurations Assigned to Agents

Discovering Rule and Configurations Assigned to Agents

Due to the size and complexity of some enterprises, determining how a single agent is configured (which rule sets are assigned to which agents) by alternately navigating through the Agent tree view and the RuleSet tree view panes can be a time-consuming task. Therefore, PATROL Configuration Manager provides two features to help you find the rule sets assigned to a particular agent and locate the most recent backup configuration of an agent.

Finding RuleSets Assigned to an Individual Agent

The Search LinkedRuleSets feature (right-click selected groups/agents and choose Search => LinkedRuleSets) enables you to find which rules are assigned to selected agents or groups.

For information about how to find rule sets assigned to an individual agent, see “Identifying Linked RuleSets Associated with an Agent” on page 161.

Locating the Backup Configurations

This task describes how to locate the most recent backup configuration for a selected agent.

To Locate the Most Recent Backup Configuration for an Agent

1 In the Agent tree view, choose an agent.

2 Right-click on the selected agent.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the drop down menu.

3 Choose Locate Latest Backup.

PATROL Configuration Manager changes focus to the RuleSet tree view, expands the backup folder, and highlights the rule set folder with the most recent date-time stamp.


C h a p t e r 4
4 Report on the PATROL Environment
PATROL Configuration Manager can query agents for information about each agent’s PATROL installation and the application classes, knowledge modules, and parameters loaded on the agent. This chapter presents the following topics:

PATROL Configuration Manager Report Sources, Formats, and Constraints . . . . . 100Source of Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Output Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Memory Usage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Permissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Generate a Report Using PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Defining and Generating a Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Automated Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Generating a Report of Local Rules before Applying Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109


PATROL Configuration Manager Report Sources, Formats, and Constraints

PATROL Configuration Manager Report Sources, Formats, and Constraints

The reporting feature of PATROL Configuration Manager provides information about

■ the Operating System—vendor, type, and version■ the selected PATROL Agents—version■ the installed PATROL components—which ones are installed and what version■ the loaded Knowledge Modules—classes that are active or inactive, instances that

are online or offline, parameters

Besides permitting users to choose from which agents to gather information and determining the type and amount of information gathered, it also allows you to save the report results to text files.

Source of Information

Depending upon the type of information you want to include in a report, PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to control the source of the information. You can instruct the report to gather information from the following two sources:

■ PATROL Agent—The report retrieves information from each agent. Reporting from this source takes longer because it is real-time. The information that it provides is more accurate and more comprehensive than information from PATROL Configuration Manager. Certain types of information can only be gathered from this source.

■ PATROL Configuration Manager—The report retrieves information stored by the PATROL Configuration Manager in backup files. Reporting from this source is quicker because it is offline. However, depending upon when certain actions were last performed in PATROL Configuration Manager, the information may be stale and thus inaccurate.


Output Formats

Output Formats

The reporting feature of PATROL Configuration Manager provides its report in two formats.

■ Online—PATROL Configuration Manager displays the report in a proprietary viewer that allows you to review the report online and also provides a save feature that allows you to save it to a file

■ File—PATROL Configuration Manager writes the report to a file in one of the formats that you specify. Valid formats include— HyperText Markup Language (.html)— eXtensible Markup Language (.xml)— Comma Separated Value (.csv)— Formatted text (.txt), using UTF-8 encoding for full localized character support

Limitations

The PATROL Configuration Manager has some limitations. You cannot

■ save report requests—each time you generate a report you must choose on which agents you want to report and what type of information you want to gather

■ view one report online while another report is being generated■ change the defaults of the report—each time you attempt to generate a report,

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Reporting: Select Report Criteria dialog box with the following defaults. You can select criteria other than the defaults for that report, but you cannot alter the defaults for the dialog box. The next time you attempt to generate a report, the defaults will be the same.— Query For

■ Agent and OS Information■ Active and Pre-loaded Knowledge Modules

— User Data From■ PATROL Configuration Manager

— Send Report To■ Report Viewer


Authentication

Authentication

Reporting requires authentication (user names and passwords) to be configured for each agent on which you want to gather data.

For more information, see “Managing Unique User Names and Passwords for Individual Agents” on page 91.

Memory Usage

By default, PATROL Configuration Manager allocates 256 MB of memory to itself upon startup. This amount is more than adequate to perform all tasks in PATROL Configuration Manager. However, if you want to run reports on large numbers of agents or agents with very large configurations, you might need to increase the amount of memory allocated to it.

To change the amount of memory allocated to PATROL Configuration Manager, you must edit the Java command line parameter to allocate the memory heap, -Xm, in the start up command. Then you must restart PATROL Configuration Manager.

To Change Memory Allocation on UNIX

1 Navigate to the location of PCM.sh.

2 Open the file in the text editor of your choice.

3 Locate the startup command in the shell script.

4 Change the memory heap parameter, -Xm, to the desired size.

5 Save and exit the file.

Figure 10 Startup Command Line from PCM.sh on Solaris

nohup java -DCS_INI="$CS_INI" -Duser.xdisplay="$DISPLAY" -Xmx256m -Xbootclasspath/p:/opt/bmc/pconfmgr/utils/xerces/xercesImpl.jar:/opt/bmc/pconfmgr/utils/xerces/xml-apis.jar -jar /opt/bmc/pconfmgr/PCM.jar &


Permissions

To Change Memory Allocation on Windows

The installation process for PATROL Configuration Manager installs two shortcuts: PATROL Configuration Manager shortcut and PATROL Configuration Manager (CMD Window) shortcut. You must edit them both.

1 Choose Start => Settings => Taskbar & Start Menu.

Microsoft Windows displays the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box.

2 Click Advanced.

Microsoft Windows displays the Start Menu dialog box.

3 Navigate to Documents and Settings => All Users => Start Menu => Programs => BMC PATROL.

4 Right-click the PATROL Configuration Manager shortcut or PATROL Configuration Manager (CMD Window) and choose Properties.

Microsoft Windows displays the PATROL Configuration Manager Properties dialog box.

5 Select the Shortcut tab.

6 In Target, change the memory heap parameter, -Xm, to the desired size.

7 Click OK.

Microsoft Windows saves the new setting and closes the dialog box.

Permissions

The account used to perform reporting must have read and write permissions to PATROL_HOME on the agent where the report is generated. On OpenVMS, this location is patrol$home:[tmp].

Figure 11 Startup Command Line in Targets Text Box of Microsoft Windows Shortcut

"C:\Program Files\BMC Software\pconfmgr\jre\bin\javaw.exe" -Xmx1024m "-DCS_INI=C:\Program Files\BMC Software\pconfmgr\PCM.ini" -jar "C:\Program Files\BMC Software\pconfmgr\PCM.jar"


Printing

Printing

You cannot print the report from the Report Results dialog box. To print the report, save it to a file (text, CSV or HTML format) and then print the contents of the file.

Generate a Report Using PATROL Configuration Manager

Creating a report in PATROL Configuration Manager is simple. Besides the criteria that you select, the report includes

■ the start and end time, including time zone■ summary of total agents by operating system type

Defining and Generating a Report

PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to customize a report for all or a subset of agents, which it manages.

To Define and Generate a Report

1 In the Agent tree view (the left pane of the PATROL Configuration Manager interface), choose the agents and groups of agents for which you want to generate a report.

2 From the menu bar, choose Tools => Reporting.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Reporting: Select Report Criteria dialog box.

3 In the Query For pane, choose the type of information that you want included in the report.



Table 22 Type of Information Gathered by the Report (part 1 of 2)

Field Description

Agent and OS Information This option provides information about the selected PATROL Agents and the computer on which the agents are running. The information includes

■ Host name■ IP Address■ Agent version■ TCP/UDP port used by the agent■ OS name, version and patch version

Installed Components This option provides information about PATROL components installed on the selected agents. The information includes

■ Component name■ Description■ Version

Active and Pre-loaded Knowledge Modules

This option provides information about which KMs are pre-loaded on the selected agents. The information includes the filename of the .KM or .KML file.

Knowledge Module Application Classes (Active and Inactive)

This option provides information about which KMs are loaded on the selected agents. The information includes

■ Loaded KM list— Name— Version— Static = true\false

■ Application Class properties— Name— Active = true\false— Discovery Cycle for 3.6.00 or higher agent



4 If you want to limit the Knowledge Module information in the report to a single application class, type the name of the application class in the Filter KM Data By text box. This filter applies only to the knowledge module selections (application classes, instances, and parameters) of the Query For pane.

5 In the Use Data From panel, select the source from which the report gathers information.

■ Agent—retrieve in real-time information from the selected agents

■ PATROL Configuration Manager—retrieve offline the information from PATROL Configuration Manager backups files

Knowledge Module Instances (Online and Offline)

This option provides information about which KMs instances are online or offline on the selected agents. The information includes the following instance properties

■ Name■ Active = true\false

Knowledge Module Parameter and Configuration (Active)

This option provides information about parameters and their settings on the selected agents. The information includes the following parameter properties

■ Name■ Active = true/false■ Type Consumer = Std/Col \Consumer for agents earlier

than 3.6.00 and Standard\ Collector\ Consumer for agents 3.6.00 or later

■ Interval \ Polling Time■ Localized via PATROL Configuration

Manager\PATROL KM for Event Management (__asLocalized__)

■ Parameter Alarm properties— Name: Border, Alarm1, Alarm2— Active— Minimum and maximum— Trigger— Occurrences— RecoveryActions— State: OK, WARN,ALARM

Table 22 Type of Information Gathered by the Report (part 2 of 2)

Field Description



6 In the Send Report To panel, select the output format of the report.

■ Report Viewer—displays the report online in a dialog box■ Disk—writes the report to a file in one of the following formats:

— HyperText Markup Language— comma separated values— formatted text

To View the Report Online

1 After selecting Report Viewer, click OK.

2 PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Reporting: Report Generation Status dialog box until the report finishes.

If PATROL Configuration Manager cannot generate a report for an agent, the configuration manager displays the Reporting: Agents Failed to Generate a Report dialog box, which lists the agents that could not be reported on. Otherwise, PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Reporting: Report Viewer dialog box.

3 Click View Report.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Reporting: Report Viewer dialog box.

4 Navigate through the report using the scroll bar.

5 To save the online report to a file, click Save Report.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Save dialog box.

6 Using the file browser tool, navigate to the location where you want to save the report.

7 In the File name text box, type name of the report file.

8 In the Files of type text box, choose a format.

9 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the files to the specified location and displays the Reporting: Output Files Created dialog box, which provides the full path and file names of the saved files.

10 Click OK to close the Output Files Created dialog box and then click Close to exit the Report Viewer.



To Save the Report to a File

1 After selecting Disk, click Select. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Save dialog box.

2 Using file browser tool, navigate to location where you want to save the report.

3 In the File name text box, type name of the report file.

4 In the Files of type text box, choose a format.

5 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Reporting: Report Generation Status dialog box until the report finishes. Then the configuration manager displays the Reporting: Agents Failed to Generate a Report dialog box, which lists the agents that could not be reported on.

6 Click Close.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Reporting: Output Files Created dialog box, which provides the full path and file names of the saved files. The number of files varies depending upon the search criteria and output format.

7 Click OK to close the Output Files Created dialog box.


Automated Reports

Automated ReportsSome operations in PATROL Configuration Manager provide you with the ability to generate a report and view the potential results of the operation before the operation is performed. The apply operation includes the ability to report local rules assigned to agents before global rules are applied to those agents.

Generating a Report of Local Rules before Applying Rules

The Apply operation can generate a report to inform the user if a global rule gets overwritten by a local rule before an apply operation takes place. To initiate the generation of the report, select the Report Local Rules Before Apply check box in the Apply RuleSets dialog box as shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12 Apply RuleSets Dialog Box – Reporting Localized Rules before Apply

Configure the Report to Run Automatically

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the setting for this option in its configuration. In the Configure: Application dialog box, you can specify the default setting.

For instructions on how to set the default, see “Set Default for Reporting Localized Rules” on page 58.


Generating a Report of Local Rules before Applying Rules

Availability

The report is available after all RuleSets have been processed by PATROL Configuration Manager and the resulting rules are placed in the queue folder.

Contents

The report lists the localized rule and includes its RuleSet name and path, rule, operation, and agent display name.

Cancelling

If you cancel the operation, all rules in the queue folder are removed and the apply operation is not performed.


C h a p t e r 5
5 Work with Rules, RuleSets, and Configurations
This chapter describes how to create, edit, and manage rules, RuleSets, and configurations with the PATROL Configuration Manager. The following topics are discussed:

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Benefits of Rules and RuleSets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Order of Operations for Applying Rules, RuleSets, and Configurations . . . . . . 115

Creating, Managing, and Deleting RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Dragging and Dropping in PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Moving and Copying RuleSets and RuleSet Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Creating a New RuleSet and New RuleSet Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Creating a New RuleSet from an Existing RuleSet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Editing RuleSets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Deleting RuleSets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Assigning RuleSets to Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Sharing and Locking RuleSet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Comparing RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Creating, Editing, and Managing Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Naming Convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Creating a Rule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Copying or Duplicating a Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Editing a Rule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Deleting a Rule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Locating a Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Protecting Rules by Using Local RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Creating Local RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Editing Local RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Overwriting Local RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Listing Localized Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Working with Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Automated Tasks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141


Manual Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Getting Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Applying Changes to Agent Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Backing Up the Configuration of an Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Purging All Configuration Changes from an Agent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Restoring All Configuration Changes to an Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Automating Updates to RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Types of Automated RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Precedence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Change to the Source Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Activating/Deactivating Statically Linked RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Designating RuleSets to Be Applied to New Agents (ApplyOnNew). . . . . . . . . 152Designating RuleSets to Be Applied After Any RuleSet is Applied

(ApplyOnApply) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Designating Rules to be Updated Automatically (LinkedRuleSets) . . . . . . . . . . 156Identifying Linked RuleSets Associated with an Agent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Accommodating Computer-Specific Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Predefined Rule Aliases (System Variables) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Defining a Rule Alias. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Viewing and Adding Missing Rule Alias. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166


Introduction

IntroductionPATROL Configuration Manager provides a user-friendly, graphically-based method of managing configurations. The fundamental element of a configuration is the configuration variables. Rules are a standardized mechanism for manipulating those variables. PATROL Configuration Manager provides an easy and powerful way for you to create, edit, organize, backup, protect for overwriting, delete, and apply these rules throughout your enterprise.

However, the power in PATROL Configuration Manager resides in your ability to create a logical and well-conceived organizational principle that enables you to efficiently manage configuration variables. Some of the categories you might use to define and organize configurations are

■ application(s) being monitored

■ business services supported such as

— email servers— internet commerce servers— parts inventory database

■ hardware on which the agent is running

■ operating system on which the agent is running

■ geographical location of the computer such as

— building— city— state— country— continent


Definitions

Definitions

This section contains brief definitions for Rules, RuleSets, and configurations. For a more detailed explanation of these terms, see “Concepts and Definitions” on page 16.

Rule

A rule is an instruction applied to a PATROL Agent that instructs the agent to change a variable in its agent configuration database. A rule consists of the following parts:

■ key—the PATROL Agent configuration database variable (pconfig)■ value—the value of the configuration variable that is used during the operation■ operation—operation performed on the variable

When the constituent parts of a rule need to be emphasized, a rule may also be referred to as key/value or key/value/operation.

RuleSets

A RuleSet is a collection of rules that are associated by the user based on user-defined organizing principles. RuleSets are stored as text files with .cfg extension.

Rule Alias

A Rule Alias is a variable that enables you to insert in a rule a placeholder that is replaced by a computer-specific value when the rule is applied.


A statically linked RuleSet is a RuleSet that is associated with an agent or group of agents by being placed in the either the ApplyOnNew or LinkedRuleSet container of the respective the agent or group of agents. When a rule belonging to a statically linked RuleSet is updated, PATROL Configuration Manager asks you if you want to apply this change to all of the agent to which the rule is linked.

Configuration

A Configuration is a set of rules. At installation, the PATROL Agent starts out with a default configuration, stored in the file config.default. As users customize the behavior of their agent, they change the configuration of the agent.


Benefits of Rules and RuleSets

Benefits of Rules and RuleSets

The power of PATROL Configuration Manager lies in its ability to configure thousands of agents with a few simple clicks of a mouse. The effectiveness of those configurations depends entirely upon you and

■ what rules you create■ how you organize those rules into rulesets■ to which agents you apply those rulesets

Order of Operations for Applying Rules, RuleSets, and Configurations

The order in which PATROL Configuration Manager process rules, RuleSets, and configurations can affect what value is set for a PATROL Agent’s configuration variable.

WARNING PATROL Configuration Manager is a very powerful management utility.

Although, PATROL Configuration Manager can save you innumerable hours in managing the PATROL Agents installed throughout your enterprise, it can also instantaneously replicate poorly conceived configurations throughout your enterprise.

Table 23 Order of Operations for Applying Configurations

Item Description

RuleSets processed in the order in which they appear under the Agent in the Agent tree view

Rules processed in the order in which they appear

Rules at the top are processed first. Rules at the bottom are processed last. If two rules apply to the same variable, the variable will be set with the value specified by the second rule, that is the one closest to the bottom of the list. Users can rearrange rules to ensure which one take precedence. However, local overrides rules, rules assigned to ApplyOnNew and ApplyOnApply are processed after all the rules waiting to be applied and listed in the Agent tree view.

ApplyOnApply RuleSets designated as Activated ApplyOnApply are processed last

For more information, see “Designating RuleSets to Be Applied After Any RuleSet is Applied (ApplyOnApply)” on page 155


Creating, Managing, and Deleting RuleSets

Creating, Managing, and Deleting RuleSetsThis section describes how to mechanically create, move, and delete RuleSets using PATROL Configuration Manager. The following tasks are presented in this section:

■ “Creating a New RuleSet and New RuleSet Folder” on page 118■ “Creating a New RuleSet from an Existing RuleSet” on page 119■ “Editing RuleSets” on page 121 (adding and deleting rules)■ “Deleting RuleSets” on page 121■ “Assigning RuleSets to Agents” on page 122■ “Sharing and Locking RuleSet” on page 122■ “Comparing RuleSets” on page 123

Dragging and Dropping in PATROL Configuration Manager

RuleSets and RuleSet folders can be moved from one folder to another or to an agent, group of agents, or ApplyOnNew and LinkedRuleSets containers by left-clicking on a RuleSet or folder and dragging and dropping it to a location or using the Drag Left menu command. This feature is similar to the Windows Explorer interface.

NOTE Drag and drop in the PATROL Configuration Manager interface is different than the standard Windows drag and drop. When you are selecting multiple items to drag, you must either continue to hold the mouse button down after you click the last item, or continue hold Ctrl or Shift and click off an object after you select the last item, and then drag the items before releasing the mouse button.

In Windows, you can click the last item and release the mouse button, and then click any selected item and drag the group. This does not work in the PATROL Configuration Manager interface.


Moving and Copying RuleSets and RuleSet Folders

Moving and Copying RuleSets and RuleSet Folders

RuleSets and RuleSet Folders can be moved from one group to another using drag and drop features similar to the Windows Explorer interface, or you can use menu commands to copy or move RuleSets and RuleSet folders.

To Copy Either RuleSets or RuleSet Folders to Another Folder

1 Select the RuleSets or RuleSet folders that you want to copy.

To select multiple RuleSets or RuleSet folders, press and hold Ctrl while you click the RuleSets or RuleSet folders you want to copy, and continue to hold Ctrl for the next step.

2 Right-click on a selected item, and choose Copy.

3 Right-click on the folder in which you want to place the copies of the RuleSet or folder, and choose Paste.

To Move Either RuleSets or RuleSet Folders to Another Folder

1 Select the RuleSets or RuleSet folders that you want to move.

To select multiple RuleSets or RuleSet folders, press and hold Ctrl while you click the RuleSets or RuleSet folders you want to move, and continue to hold Ctrl for the next step.

2 Right-click on a selected item, and choose Cut.

3 Right-click on the folder to which you want to move the item, and choose Paste.

The same RuleSet or RuleSet folder can appear in more than one folder.

WARNING When you copy a rule from one RuleSet or folder to another, you create a separate, identical rule. If you alter the original rule in anyway, the rule that is a copy of the original does not change.

NOTE You cannot move or copy both RuleSets and RuleSet folders at the same time.


Creating a New RuleSet and New RuleSet Folder

Creating a New RuleSet and New RuleSet Folder

Create a new RuleSet folder and RuleSet in the RuleSet tree view.

To Create a New RuleSet Folder

1 In the RuleSet tree view, right-click a folder. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the RuleSet Folder menu.

2 Choose New => Folder.

The new folder is created in the selected folder in the RuleSet tree view as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13 New RuleSet Folder

3 Edit the name of the new folder by deleting the NewFolder text and typing a new folder name.

4 Press Enter to retain the new name.

If you do not press Enter, the name reverts back to NewFolder.

To Create a New RuleSet

1 In the RuleSet tree view, right-click a folder.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the RuleSet Folder menu.

2 Choose New => RuleSet from the RuleSet Folder menu.

A new RuleSet, NewRuleSet, is created in the RuleSet tree view as shown in Figure 14.


Creating a New RuleSet from an Existing RuleSet

Figure 14 New RuleSet

3 Edit the name of the new RuleSet by deleting the NewRuleSet text and typing a new RuleSet name. Only alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9), hyphens (-), and underscores (_) are valid.

4 Press Enter to retain the new name.

If you do not press Enter, the name reverts back to NewRuleSet.

Where to Go from Here

Now you can create rules or copy rules from other RuleSets into the new RuleSet. See “Creating a Rule” on page 126 for more information about creating rules.


Create a new RuleSet from rules with an existing RuleSet or by copying an entire RuleSet.

To Create a RuleSet from Rules within an Existing RuleSet

1 In the RuleSet tree view, choose rules from an existing RuleSet or from an agent configuration in the backup folder.

To select multiple rules, press and hold Ctrl while you click the rules you want to include in your new RuleSet. After you have selected the rules, continue to hold Ctrl and right click one of the selected rules to open the Rule menu.

2 Choose Save As.

PATROL Configuration Manager creates a new RuleSet in the current folder, named NewRuleSet with a copy of the selected rule items.

WARNING When you copy a rule from one RuleSet or folder to another, you create a separate, identical rule. If you alter the original rule in anyway, the rule that is a copy of the original does not change.



3 Rename the new RuleSet by right-clicking it, choosing Rename, deleting the existing text, and typing in a new name.

To Create a RuleSet by Copying an Existing RuleSet

1 In the RuleSet tree view, right-click the RuleSet that you want to copy. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the RuleSet menu.

2 Choose Copy.

3 Right-click on the folder in which you want to place the new RuleSet.

4 Choose Paste. PATROL Configuration Manager creates the RuleSet in the selected folder with the same name as the original RuleSet.


To Create a RuleSet by Copying Rules from Several Different RuleSets

1 In the RuleSet tree view, right-click the folder in which you want to create a new RuleSet.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the folder menu.

2 Choose New => RuleSet.


4 In the RuleSet tree view, click to expand one of the RuleSet that contains a rule that you want to copy.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the rules.

5 Select the rule or rules that you want to copy.

6 Right-click the rule or rules.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the rules menu.

7 Choose Copy.

8 Right-click on the folder in which you want to place the new RuleSet.

9 Choose Paste.


Editing RuleSets

PATROL Configuration Manager creates the rule in the selected RuleSet.

10 Repeat step 4 through step 9 for each set of rules in a separate RuleSet that you want to combine in the single RuleSet that you created in step 2.


Editing RuleSets

Editing RuleSets consists of adding rules to RuleSets by means of creating and copying them, and deleting rules from RuleSets.

For instructions on how to perform these tasks, see

■ “Creating a Rule” on page 126■ “Copying or Duplicating a Rule” on page 128■ “Deleting a Rule” on page 133

Deleting RuleSets

Delete RuleSets and RuleSet folders from the RuleSet tree view.

Before You Begin

You must have RuleSets and RuleSet folders to delete.

To Remove RuleSets and RuleSet Folders from the RuleSet Tree View

1 In the RuleSets tree view, select the RuleSets and RuleSet folders that you want to delete.

To select multiple RuleSets and RuleSet folders, press and hold Ctrl while you click all the RuleSets and RuleSet folders you want to delete.

2 Continue to hold Ctrl and right click one of the selected RuleSets and RuleSet folders.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the RuleSets and RuleSet folders menu.

3 Choose Delete.


Assigning RuleSets to Agents

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Confirm Delete Items dialog box.

4 Click Yes. PATROL Configuration Manager closes the dialog box and removes the selected object (RuleSet or folder) and any other subordinate objects such as folders, RuleSets, and rules.

Assigning RuleSets to Agents

RuleSets must be assigned to agents or groups of agents before than can be applied. For instructions on how to apply configurations (assigned rules and RuleSets) to an agent, see “Applying Changes to Agent Configurations” on page 143.

To Assign RuleSets to an Agent

1 In the RuleSet tree view, choose one or more RuleSets or RuleSet folders.

To select multiple RuleSets and RuleSet folders, press and hold Ctrl while you click all the RuleSets and RuleSet folders you want to assign to an agent.

2 Drag the selected RuleSets and/or folders to the desired agent or group, and release the mouse button.

When the cursor is over a group or agent, the cursor changes from a circle with a diagonal line through it to a folder with a plus.

PATROL Configuration Manager

■ changes the color of the agent icon to which you assigned the rules

■ places the rules under the agent icon so that you can expand the hierarchy and view the rules that are assigned but not yet applied to each agent

■ enables the Tools => Apply option in the menu bar

Sharing and Locking RuleSet

PATROL Configuration Manager supports multiple users sharing RuleSet folders by locking a RuleSet when one user is editing the RuleSet. The configuration manager does not provide a visual indication that a RuleSet is locked. However, if you try to perform an action on a RuleSet that is being edited by another user, PATROL Configuration Manager displays the File Locked dialog box as shown in Figure 15.


Comparing RuleSets

Figure 15 File Locked Dialog Box

The File Locked dialog box indicates

■ who owns the lock■ what the time the lock was created■ from which computer the user is editing the RuleSet

Comparing RuleSets

PATROL Configuration Manager provides a comparison feature that enables you to determine if two RuleSets contain the same rules. The RuleSets can reside anywhere within the RuleSet folder hierarchy.

To Compare Rules within Two RuleSets

1 In the RuleSet tree view, click a RuleSet. This RuleSet will be designated by the Compare utility as the First RuleSet.

2 In the RuleSet tree view, press and hold Ctrl and click a second RuleSet. This RuleSet will be designated by the Compare utility as the Second RuleSet.

3 Right-click on one of the two selected RuleSets and choose Compare.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the RuleSet Comparison dialog box, which by default displays all rules from both RuleSets.

4 Choose which rules the dialog box displays.

NOTE You can compare the configurations of two agents by getting their configurations and then comparing their respective backup RuleSets as described in the following procedure.


Comparing RuleSets

To Save Selected Rules to a New RuleSet

1 After completing step 1 through step 4 on page 123, choose the rules that you want to save to a new RuleSet.

To select a range, click on the rule at the top or beginning of your range and then hold down Shift while clicking on the bottom or end of the range. To select multiple rules that are not contiguous, hold down Ctrl while you click the individual rules.

2 Click Save Selections. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Save Selected Rules dialog box.

3 In the RuleSet Name field, enter a name for the new RuleSet. Only alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9), hyphens (-), and underscores (_) are valid.

PATROL Configuration Manager creates the new RuleSet under the RuleSet folder.

Table 24 RuleSet Comparison Display Properties

Option Description

All displays all rules within both RuleSets

Different Values displays only rules which have the same variable and operation but a different value

Same Values displays only rules which have the same variable, operation, and value

First RuleSet display only those rules that exist in the First RuleSet

First Unique display only those rules that do not exist in the Second RuleSet

Second RuleSet display only those rules that exist in the Second RuleSet

Second Unique display only those rules that do not exist in the First RuleSet

Results

* indicates the difference in the rule between the two rulesets

< the rule is only in the 1st ruleset> the rule is only in the 2nd ruleset= the rule matches in both rulesets<! the rule has been modified in the 1st ruleset>! the rule has been modified in the 2nd ruleset

Rule / Variable displays the rule / variable name

Operation displays the type of operation that the rule performs

Value displays a numerical value or text string


Creating, Editing, and Managing Rules

Creating, Editing, and Managing RulesThe fundamental element of a configuration is the configuration variables. Rules are standardized mechanism for manipulating those variables. PATROL Configuration Manager enables you to create and edit such rules. This section describes the following tasks:

■ “Creating a Rule” on page 126■ “Editing a Rule” on page 129■ “Copying or Duplicating a Rule” on page 128■ “Deleting a Rule” on page 133■ “Locating a Rule” on page 133

Naming Convention

PATROL Configuration Manager 1.6.00 or later employs the pconfig utility +strict option, which enforces strict guidelines for naming variables. This option does not allow empty variable names and checks for the following conditions:

■ must begin with a forward slash /■ must enclose Rule Aliases in percent signs such as %myRuleAlias%■ cannot end and with a forward slash /■ cannot contain 2 consecutive forward slashes //■ cannot contain quotes “■ cannot end with an escape sequence such as \n

Failure

PATROL Agent 3.6.50 or later strictly enforces these guidelines. If a variable name is invalid, PATROL Configuration Manager either drops the variable name and the agent places a note in the agent log or fails the operation.

PATROL Configuration Manager supports the pconfig +strict option for apply operations. If a variable name does not comply with the naming conventions, the Job Status Information dialog box displays the error message: FAILED – Invalid Variable Name. The invalid variable name is listed in the job log.

NOTE While specifying values for variables with the PATROL Configuration Manager (PCM), ensure that the values of the variables do not contain quotes (“).


Creating a Rule

Backward Compatibility

To support versions of PATROL Agent earlier than 3.6.50, which do not employ the strict option, you can add the pconfig_use_strict variable to PCM.ini. This variable either enables or disables the strict adherence to the naming convention for rule variables. The default is true (strict enforcement enabled). The feature will be turned off if pconfig utility is not at least version 3.6.50.

For more information about valid variable names for the pconfig function, see PATROL Script Language (PSL) Reference Manual, Volume 2 - PSL Functions.

Creating a Rule

In this task you create a rule by specifying a pconfig variable, its value, and the relationship between the variable and the value.

Before You Begin

■ Use the New Rule command to insert a new rule into the selected RuleSet.

■ Use Rule Aliases to handle unique computer-specific information that is built into the variable names. For more information about Rule Aliases, see “Accommodating Computer-Specific Data” on page 163.

To Create a Rule

1 In the RuleSets tree view, right click a RuleSet and choose New Rule. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the RuleSet dialog box as shown Figure 16.

Figure 16 RuleSet Dialog Box


Creating a Rule

2 Enter the rules properties by placing the cursor in the field, clicking in the field, and typing or selecting a value. The rule properties are described in Table 25 on page 127.

3 Click OK to save the new rule.

Table 25 Rule Properties

Property Description

Variable the PATROL Agent configuration variable name

Variable names are case sensitive, must start with a forward slash (/), and cannot contain quotation marks (“). If you want to use a Rule Alias, the alias name must be enclosed in percent signs (%), like such %alias_name%.

The PATROL KM for Event Management stores Event Management Rules as PATROL Agent configuration variables.

Operation the action that the rule performs on the variable using the specified value

The following operations are available:

■ DELETE—deletes the value of the variable and leaves it blank on the agent (Only deletes it if it is there, and the value is not null.)

■ REPLACE—replaces the current value of the variable on the agent with the specified value

■ MERGE—merges the specified value with the existing value of the variable on the agent

■ APPEND—adds the specified value to the existing value of the variable on the agent

■ DELVAR—deletes the variable from the PATROL Agent configuration database (This is a short cut for DELETE and REPLACE with a null value.)

Value The value that is used with the operation. If you want to use a Rule Alias, the alias name must be enclosed in percent signs (%), like such %alias_name%.

NOTE DELETE, MERGE, and APPEND operations only work with lists of values when the list is comma separated. These operations do not work when the list items are separated by new lines.


Copying or Duplicating a Rule

Copying or Duplicating a Rule

Copying a rule from one RuleSet to another creates two identical, but unrelated rules. If you change either the original rule or the copy of the rule, the change does not affect the other rule; that is they are not linked.

If two RuleSets, each containing an identical rule to the other, are applied to an agent, PATROL Configuration Manager attempts to apply the rule twice.

To Copy a Rule

1 Navigate to the rule that you want to copy.

2 Right-click the rule and choose Copy.

If you want to copy a rule into the same RuleSet, thus placing two identical rules in the RuleSet, choose Duplicate. PATROL Configuration Manager does not allow you to copy and paste a rule into a RuleSet that already contains a rule identical to it.

3 Navigate to the RuleSet to which you want to paste it.

4 Right-click the RuleSet and choose Paste.

To Duplicate a Rule

1 Navigate to the rule that you want to make an identical copy of.

2 Right-click the rule and choose Duplicate.

PATROL Configuration Manager places a rule identical to the one that you selected in the RuleSet.


Editing a Rule

Editing a Rule

PATROL Configuration Manager provides several methods for editing individual rules. All the methods allow you edit the rules; however, they vary in the amount of control they afford you and the number of rules that you can edit at one time.

To Edit Multiple Rules that Belong to the Same RuleSet

1 In the RuleSets tree view, right click a RuleSet and choose one of the following commands:

Edit => Source—edit the RuleSet using a text editorEdit => Rules—edit the RuleSet in a table form

2 When you choose Source, PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Edit Configuration Source File dialog box as shown in Figure 17. This dialog box lists all the rules within the RuleSet. Each rule is presented as a text string separated from the next rule by comma and an end of line character.

Figure 17 Edit Configuration Source File Dialog Box

3 Locate the rule that you want to edit. You can either scroll through the list or use the Find feature to search for the rule based on a unique aspect of it such as pconfig variable name, instance name, or value.

NOTE If you right click a rule and choose Edit, you can edit a single rule using the same steps on page 126 involved in creating a rule.

WARNING The Edit Configuration Source File dialog box does not provide syntax checking. Typing errors can cause rules to fail.


Editing a Rule

To Search through a large RuleSet for a single rule,

A Click Find. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Edit Configuration Source: Find dialog box.

B In the Find What field, type the whole or partial name of the variable, instance, value, or other entity upon which you are basing your search.

C If case sensitivity applies, select the Case Sensitivity Search check box.

D Click Find Next. PATROL Configuration Manager closes the Find dialog box and highlights the first occurrence that matches.

4 If you want to search for and replace an entity within a rule (such as an instance name or a common prefix for a configuration variable name), use the Replace feature.

A Click Replace. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Edit Configuration Source: Find / Replace dialog box.

B In the Find What field, type the whole or partial name of the variable, instance, value, or other entity upon which you are basing your search.

C In the Replace With field, type the whole or partial name of the variable, instance, value, or other entity upon which you are basing your search.

D If case sensitivity applies, select the Case Sensitivity Search check box.

E Click Replace to the current match and find the next one or click Replace All to replace all matches.

5 After you have located the rule that you want to edit, place the cursor in the rule, and click to insert the cursor.

6 Change the properties of the rule by deleting the characters that you want to change and replacing them with the desired ones.


Editing a Rule

To Edit Rules

Assuming you chose Rules in step 1 of “Edit Multiple Rules that Belong to the Same RuleSet” on page 129, PATROL Configuration Manager displays the RuleSet dialog box opens as shown in Figure 18. This dialog box lists all the rules within the RuleSet in a table format. Each rule is presented in a row with each property (variable, operation, value) in a cell.

Figure 18 RuleSet Dialog Box

1 Edit the values by clicking in the table cell for a property and typing in a new value or selecting an option (Operator only).

You can also edit the value by selecting a row in the table and clicking Edit Value. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Edit Rule/Value dialog box as shown in Figure 19.

Figure 19 Edit Rule Variable Dialog Box

If the selected rule is an Event Management rule, PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Event Management-specific dialog box designated by the rule value that you are editing. Figure 20 displays an example of one such dialog box.


Editing a Rule

Figure 20 Edit Value for Event Management Rule Example

For more information about Event Management Commands, see “Establish Notification and Manage Alerts” on page 187.

2 Edit the rule values and click OK. See Table 25 on page 127 for a description of the rule properties.

NOTE Only the value of the rule can be edited for an Event Management rule when the dialog is accessed by selecting a notification rule and clicking Edit Value. You cannot add or remove Objects.


Deleting a Rule

Deleting a Rule

Deleting a rule in PATROL Configuration Manager is final. The configuration manager does not have an undo or undelete feature. To restore the rule, you must recreate it or copy it from a backup ruleset, if one exists, or an identical rule in another RuleSet.

To Delete a Rule

1 Navigate to the rule that you want to delete.

2 Right-click the rule and choose Delete.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Confirm Delete Items dialog box.

3 Click Yes.

Locating a Rule

RuleSets and configurations can contain hundreds and even thousands of rules. Manually searching for a single rule or a few rules can be time consuming and error prone. PATROL Configuration Manager provides a search utility that allows you to search for rules across folders and/or RuleSets. Searches can be conducted by

■ variable■ operation■ value■ any combination of the three

Matches can be refined to

■ include partial strings■ be case sensitive■ use regular expressions■ search all subfolders■ search only most recent backups■ return results with no matches

Once the search utility has returned its results, you can either save them to a text file or write them to a new RuleSet.


Locating a Rule

To Search for a Rule

1 In the RuleSet tree view, right-click the selected RuleSet folder or a RuleSet.

2 Choose Search.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the RuleSet Search dialog box as shown in Figure 21.

Figure 21 RuleSet Search Dialog Box

3 Use the RuleSet Search dialog box to define the search for a rule or rules. The criteria are described in Table 26.


Locating a Rule

4 Click OK. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Search Results dialog box which lists all the rules that match the search criteria.

To preserve the results of your search, you have two options:

■ Save the rules in a new RuleSet which will appear directly under the RuleSet folder in the hierarchy

■ Save the results as a report in text file format

To Save Selected Rules to a New RuleSet

1 After completing step 1 on page 134 through step 4 on page 135, choose the rules that you want to save to new RuleSet.

To select a range, click on the rule at the top or beginning of your range and then hold down Shift while clicking on the bottom or end of the range. To select multiple rules that are not contiguous, hold down Ctrl while you click the individual rules.

Table 26 RuleSet Search Properties

Field Description

Variable part or all of the PATROL Configuration variable name

Regular expressions can be used if Use Regular Expressions is selected.

Operator part or all of the operation to be performed on the variable with the value

Value part or all of the value string specified in the rule

include partial strings determines whether the search defines a successful match if only part of the information entered in one of the variable, operator, or value fields matches the entry

case sensitive determines whether the search uses case as a criteria for a successful match

use regular expressions determines whether regular expressions can be used to define criteria for a successful match

For more information about regular expressions, see Appendix B, “Supported Regular Expressions.” on page 281.

search all subfolders determines whether the search is performed in the immediate folder only or if it includes all folders below the selected one in the hierarchy

search only most recent backups

limits the search to the last set (most recent) of backup configurations

return results with no matches

determines whether the search facility closes or redisplays the dialog if no matches are found


Locating a Rule

2 Click Save Selections. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Save Selected Rules dialog box.

3 In the RuleSet Name field, enter a name for the new RuleSet. Only alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, hyphens (-), and underscores (_) are valid.

PATROL Configuration Manager creates the new RuleSet under the RuleSet folder.

To Save Rule Search Results in a Report

1 After completing step 1 on page 134 through step 4 on page 135, click Save Report.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Report Options dialog box.

2 Choose the information to include in the report. Table 27 describes the options.

3 Click OK. PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Save dialog box.

4 Navigate to the location where you want to save the file and type in the name.

5 Click Save.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the report to the file and displays the report in the Report Viewer.

6 When you are done viewing the report online, click OK.

7 Click OK to exit the search dialog box.

Table 27 Rule Search Results Report Options

Option Description

Show Search Criteria the information entered in the variable, operation, and value fields

Show Agent Display Name the user-defined name assigned to the agent in PATROL Configuration Manager

This information is available only for backup RuleSets and local RuleSets.

Show RuleSet the RuleSets in which the rule appears

Show Rule the name of the pconfig variable affected by the rule

Show Operation operation performed by the rule

Show Value the numerical value or text string assigned to the rule


Protecting Rules by Using Local RuleSets

Protecting Rules by Using Local RuleSetsUsing Local RuleSets, you can indicate which rules, and by extension which agent configuration variables, are unique to a particular agent. Local RuleSets prevent the accidental overwriting by a global rule of a rule unique to an agent. This feature provides a way to protect configurations for individual agents and to track and manage localized changes by computer.

Characteristics

Local RuleSets are distinct from other RuleSets based upon the location in which they are stored, their behavior, and the automated synchronization of their names and the names of the agents to which they apply.

Location

Local rules are stored in a special RuleSet folder within the PCM folder, which resides under the RuleSets folder. The local rules folder is called local, which can contain one RuleSet per agent. The name of each agent-specific RuleSet is the agent display name.

Figure 22 Local RuleSet Folder

Behavior

The following behaviors are unique to Local RuleSets.

■ Each agent can have only one Local RuleSet.

■ Local RuleSet contains localized settings that cannot be overwritten when you apply configurations globally.


Characteristics

■ When PATROL Configuration Manager applies a rule or RuleSet to an agent PATROL Configuration Manager compares all the rules being applied to the rules in the localized RuleSet. PATROL Configuration Manager uses the following behaviors to apply rules that are in the localized RuleSet and the rules being applied to the agent:

— If the operation is REPLACE, the conflicting global rule is removed from the apply set.

— If the operation is MERGE or APPEND, the rule is moved to the bottom of the apply set so that the REPLACE occurs first.

— If the operation is DELETE, the rules are moved to the bottom of the apply list (the last rules considered by the agent).

Synchronization of Agents and Local RuleSets

If an agent is renamed, the local RuleSet for the agent is renamed to match the new name.

If an agent is deleted, PATROL Configuration Manager prompts you to delete the related local RuleSet.


Creating Local RuleSets

Creating Local RuleSets

In this task you create a local RuleSet for an agent.

Before You Begin

Because each agent can have only one Local RuleSet, you must have an agent without a local RuleSet to perform this task.

To Create a Local RuleSet Folder

1 In the RuleSets tree view, right-click the local folder and choose New => RuleSet. The New Local RuleSet dialog box opens as shown Figure 23.

Figure 23 New Local RuleSet Dialog Box

The local folder contains RuleSets that have the same display name as the associated agent. To ensure the RuleSet name matches the agent name, the New Local RuleSet dialog box only provides a list of agents that do not have local RuleSets when you create a new local RuleSet.

2 Choose the agent for which you want to create a local RuleSet for and click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager creates a RuleSet with the agent’s name in the local folder.


Editing Local RuleSets

Editing Local RuleSets

Local RuleSets possess the same features as other types of RuleSets in PATROL Configuration Manager. You can perform the following actions on Local RuleSets:

■ add a new rule to ■ edit rules within■ copy rules from■ paste rules into■ delete rules■ delete a local RuleSet■ search for rules within

However, you cannot rename a Local RuleSet. The only time a Local RuleSet’s name changes is when the display name for its associated agent changes.

For instructions on how to edit Local RuleSets, see “Creating, Editing, and Managing Rules” on page 125 and “Creating, Managing, and Deleting RuleSets” on page 116.

Overwriting Local RuleSets

During an apply RuleSets operation, the configuration manager gives you the option to overwrite existing Local RuleSets with the global rules currently being applied. If you select this option, customizations that have been to an agent may be undone.

For information about how to overwrite Local RuleSets, see “Applying Changes to Agent Configurations” on page 143.

Listing Localized Rules

During an apply RuleSets operation, the configuration manager gives you the option to generate a list of localized rules on the agent or agents to which the RuleSet is being applied. The report contains the following information:

■ RuleSet■ rule/variable■ operation■ agent for which the rule is localized

For information about how to generate a report of localized rules, see “Applying Changes to Agent Configurations” on page 143.


Working with Configurations

Working with ConfigurationsWorking with configurations is equivalent to managing rules at an agent and group of agents level. PATROL Configuration Manager has some built in features that enable you to perform automatic backups before resetting an agent’s configuration to its default values, apply a standard RuleSet to all agents added to a particular group, and apply a designated set of rules after any apply is performed in order to preserve certain variable settings. The following tasks are presented in this section:

■ “Getting Configurations” on page 142■ “Applying Changes to Agent Configurations” on page 143■ “Backing Up the Configuration of an Agent” on page 145■ “Purging All Configuration Changes from an Agent” on page 146■ “Restoring All Configuration Changes to an Agent” on page 147

Automated Tasks

When applying a configuration, the configuration manager provides the option to automate the following configuration tasks:

■ Backup—instructs PATROL Configuration Manager to record the configuration of an agent at a specific date and time; this feature allows you to restore the configuration of an agent from a certain point in time

■ Purge—instructs PATROL Configuration Manager to delete all the configuration changes made to the agent and revert back to its default configuration; this feature allows you to restore the configuration of an agent to its installed defaults

Manual Methods

PATROL Configuration Manager provides menu-command controls for all its tasks, including its automated tasks for applying and gathering configurations. These tasks can be executed from either the menu bar or the tool bar or the Agent tree view pop-up menus or the Rule tree view pop-up menus.


Getting Configurations

Getting Configurations

The Get Configuration feature creates copies of agent configurations in the PATROL Configuration Manager backup folder that is displayed in the RuleSet tree view. The agent configuration is time stamped with the date and time that the configuration was retrieved.

The Get With Defaults feature creates a copy of the agent configuration and creates a rule for every default variable defined in the config.default file at the time of the get operation. This information is also saved in the backup folder and assigned a date-time stamp.

To Get Copies of Agent Configurations

1 In the Agent tree view, choose one or more agents.

2 In the toolbar, either click Get Configuration or right-click on an agent and choosing Configuration => Get.

PATROL Configuration Manager retrieves the changes to the configuration and stores them in the following hierarchy in the RuleSet tree view. It does not retrieve the default configuration values stored in config.default.

RuleSet\PCM\backup\virtual_backup\agent_name\date_time

To Get Copy of the Current Agent Configurations and Default Configuration


2 Right-click on an agent and choose Configuration => Get with Default.

PATROL Configuration Manager retrieves the changes to the configuration and the default configuration values from the config.default file at the time of the get operation. This constitutes a complete back up of the agents configuration.

The configuration manager stores them in the following hierarchy in the RuleSet tree view.


EXAMPLE You retrieve the configuration of agent Agent_5__bmc_com at 11:54:50 on August 13, 2004. PATROL Configuration Manager saves the agent configuration as RuleSet 20040813-115450 in the Agent_5__bmc_com folder in the Agent_1__bmc_com - Agent_5__bmc_com virtual folder.


Applying Changes to Agent Configurations


An Agent’s configuration consists of a default configuration defined by the config.default file that was installed with the agent and a series of changes that are managed by PATROL Configuration Manager. This section describes how to apply those changes to the configuration of agents.

Before You Begin

Before you can apply configuration changes to an agent or agents, you must assign RuleSets to one or more Agents. For instructions on how to assign a RuleSet to either an agent or a group of agents, see “Assigning RuleSets to Agents” on page 122.

To Apply RuleSets to an Agent

1 In the toolbar, click Apply Configuration or from the menu bar choosing Queue => Apply.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Apply RuleSets dialog box as shown in Figure 24.

Figure 24 Apply RuleSets Dialog Box

2 Use the Apply RuleSet dialog box to specify how rules are applied. The properties are described in Table 28.



Table 28 Apply RuleSet Properties (part 1 of 2)

Option Description

Agents Selected allows you to review which agents the rules are scheduled to be applied to and remove agents; to view the list of agents you must click Show.

On the Apply RuleSets: Agent Lists dialog box, you can remove agents from the list by selecting the agent and clicking Remove Agent. When an agent is removed from the list, the rules that are waiting to be applied are also cleared for the agent.

Apply All ApplyOnApply Items In

Current Group applies the ApplyOnApply RuleSets that are activated for the group in which the agent resides

Parent Tree Group applies the ApplyOnApply RuleSets that are activated for the immediately preceding group (or the top group, the Agents group)

Apply Options

Overwrite Localized Settings If an agent that you are applying RuleSets to has a localized rule that is the same as one of the rules you are applying, you can select this option to overwrite the localized rule with the applied rule.

This option is inactive if the agent or agents do not possess any localized rules.

Report Localized Rules Before Apply

If the agent that you are applying RuleSets to has localized rules, the configuration manager creates a report that list the localized rules. These localized rules will take precedence over the global rules that you are about to apply unless you select the Overwrite Localized Settings check box.



Backing Up the Configuration of an Agent

3 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager places the rules in the job queue and displays the Job Status Information dialog box. You can identify the job by the time-date stamp, the agent against which the action will be performed, and the action, in this case APPLY. If you have requested that a backup or purge be performed before rules are applied, jobs with those statuses (GET and PURGE) will appear prior to the APPLY job.

If you want to be notified of the outcome (success or failure) of the apply jobs, select the Redisplay When Updated check box.

4 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager closes the Job Status Information dialog box.

Backing Up the Configuration of an Agent

Getting the configuration of an agent is the same as backing up an agent’s configuration. PATROL Configuration Manager retrieves all the changes that have been made to the default configuration of an agent and stores them as rules in a single RuleSet in the following hierarchy in the RuleSet tree view.


Purge Agents Before Apply remove all previous configuration changes before applying the RuleSets

Purging agents before applying RuleSets is useful when you are resetting an agent configuration to a previous version. If the purge option is not selected, the applied rules are combined with the agent’s current rules.

Purging an agent’s configuration reverts the agent back to its default configuration, deleting any changes that have been previously applied. If both options are selected, the backup occurs before the purge.

Backup Agents Before Apply retrieve agent configurations and save them to the PATROL Configuration Manager backup folder prior to the application of new rules

If you make an error applying RuleSets, you can use backups to restore an agent to a previous configuration.

Table 28 Apply RuleSet Properties (part 2 of 2)

Option Description


Purging All Configuration Changes from an Agent

For instructions on how to backup the configuration of an agent, see “Getting Configurations” on page 142.

Purging All Configuration Changes from an Agent

An Agent’s default configuration is defined by the config.default file that is installed with the agent. Purging the configuration of an agent is equivalent to returning an agent to its default configuration.

To Purge Configuration Changes from an Agent


2 Right-click on a highlighted agent and choose Configuration => Purge.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Confirm Purge dialog box.

3 Click Yes.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Job Status Information dialog box. You can identify the job by the time-date stamp, the agent against which the action will be performed, and the action, in this case PURGE.

If you want to be notified of the outcome (success or failure) of the purge jobs, select the Redisplay When Updated check box.

4 Click OK.



Restoring All Configuration Changes to an Agent

Restoring All Configuration Changes to an Agent

PATROL Configuration Manager stores backup configurations in the backup folder. To restore the configuration of an agent, you assign the desired time-stamped RuleSet to the agent and then perform an apply.

For instructions on how to assign and apply RuleSets to an agent and purge configurations from an agent, see

■ “Assigning RuleSets to Agents” on page 122■ “Applying Changes to Agent Configurations” on page 143■ “Purging All Configuration Changes from an Agent” on page 146

NOTE If you are restoring a previous configuration after making some configuration changes, you should purge the existing configuration of the agent before attempting to restore a previous configuration.


Automating Updates to RuleSets

Automating Updates to RuleSetsPATROL Configuration Manager has some built in features that enable you to automatically apply certain RuleSets and update others. The following tasks are presented in this section:

■ “Designating RuleSets to Be Applied to New Agents (ApplyOnNew)” on page 152■ “Designating RuleSets to Be Applied After Any RuleSet is Applied

(ApplyOnApply)” on page 155■ “Designating Rules to be Updated Automatically (LinkedRuleSets)” on page 156■ “Identifying Linked RuleSets Associated with an Agent” on page 161

Types of Automated RuleSets

PATROL Configuration Manager provides three ways to quickly and efficiently distribute changes to a rule throughout your PATROL enterprise.

ApplyOnNew

The ApplyOnNew feature enables PATROL Configuration Manager to automatically apply a set of rules to an agent when it is added to a group. This feature ensures that all agents in a certain group or set of groups starts off with the same standard configuration.

ApplyOnApply

The ApplyOnApply feature enables PATROL Configuration Manager to automatically apply a set of rules to an agent after any other set of rules is applied. This feature allows you to ensure that certain configuration variables are always set to a specific value.

RuleSets assigned to the ApplyOnNew container can also be set up to ApplyOnApply.

LinkedRuleSets

The LinkedRuleSets feature enables PATROL Configuration Manager to associate (through a static link) a rule to various agents. When the rule is changed that is associated to the to an agent by means of its LinkedRuleSet, the configuration manager prompts you to assign the modified rule to all the agents to which it is associated by the LinkedRuleSets container.

Before the change takes effect, the LinkedRuleSets must be applied.


Scope

Scope

Automatically managed RuleSets can be assigned at the following levels:

■ root, the Agents container■ groups and subgroups■ individual agent (Linked RuleSets only)

Precedence

ApplyOnNew and LinkedRuleSets are applied hierarchically. The last RuleSet to be applied takes precedence over the earlier ones. The order in which RuleSets are applied follows.

1. Agent container RuleSets

2. group RuleSets

3. system-specific, agent RuleSets

Storage

The configuration manager stores automated RuleSet information in variables within the various groups.ini and agents.ini files depending upon the scope of the RuleSet.

Variable

Information about each instance of an automated RuleSet is stored in a unique variable. Table 29 lists the variable format for each type of automated RuleSet.

a

Table 29 Automated RuleSet Variable Format

Feature Variable Format Description

ApplyOnNew ApplyOnNew_RS_1_N=RuleSetName The RuleSetName consists of the name of the RuleSet and its full path.

ApplyOnApply ApplyOnApply_RS_1_N The RuleSetName consists of the name of the RuleSet and its full path.

LinkedRuleSet Link_RS_#=RuleSetName The RuleSetName consists of the name of the RuleSet and its full path.


Change to the Source Rule

Location

Information about each instance of an automated RuleSet is stored in a different location depending upon its scope. Table 30 lists the location of automated RuleSet variables based upon their scope, which is the groups or agents to which they are associated.

Example

Figure 25 shows an example of automated RuleSets referenced in an agent.ini file.

Change to the Source Rule

To help you propagate changes to rules throughout your enterprise, the configuration manager keeps track of which rules are linked to which groups and agents. When a referenced rule is changed, the configuration manager detects the change and prompts you to distribute the change to all groups and agents that reference the modified rule through the LinkedRuleSet and ApplyOnNew RuleSet features. Figure 26 displays the dialog box that informs you of the change.

Figure 26 Statically Linked RuleSet Modified Dialog Box

Table 30 Storage Location

Automated RuleSet Assigned to Reference Stored In

individual agent respective agent section of the agent.ini

group respective group section of the group.ini

Agents container (all agents) above the groups section in the group.ini

Figure 25 Example of an ApplyOnNew and LinkedRuleSet in agent.ini

[Windows_Servers]ApplyOnNew_RS_1_N=OSbaseline.WindowsLink_RS_1=OSThresholds.Windows


Activating/Deactivating Statically Linked RuleSets

To implement the change on individual agents, you must perform an apply operation. If you choose No, the modified rule is not assigned to ApplyOnNew or the LinkedRuleSets container of the relevant agents.

Activating/Deactivating Statically Linked RuleSets

When establishing which rules and RuleSets will be statically linked by way of the ApplyOnNew and LinkedRuleSets containers, you may want to temporarily deactivate this feature.

To Activate and Deactivate ApplyOnNew and LinkedRuleSets

From the menu bar, choose Others => ApplyOnNew and LinkedRuleSets activated. The control is a toggle. A check mark to the left of the menu command indicates that statically linked RuleSets are turned on.


Designating RuleSets to Be Applied to New Agents (ApplyOnNew)


This task involves setting up RuleSets to be applied automatically when a new agent is added.

To Activate ApplyOnNew For Either A RuleSet or Folder of RuleSets

1 In the RuleSet tree view, navigate to the RuleSet or folder of RuleSets that you want applied to every new agent added to a particular group.

2 Click on the RuleSet or folder and drag it to the ApplyOnNew container of the group to which you want to assign the rules.

PATROL Configuration Manager places the RuleSet or folder and its subsequent contents in the ApplyOnNew container.

3 Right-click on the ApplyOnNew container and choose ApplyOnNew.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Group ApplyOnNew dialog box as shown in Figure 27.

Figure 27 Group ApplyOnNew Dialog Box

4 Use the Apply RuleSet dialog box to specify how rules are applied. The properties are described in Table 31.



Table 31 Group ApplyOnNew Properties (part 1 of 2)

Option Description

Apply to Agents in

Current Group Only applies the ApplyOnNew RuleSets to just the agents in the immediate group

Agents in Current and All SubGroups

applies the ApplyOnNew RuleSets to all agents in this group and any subordinate groups

Apply All ApplyOnNew Items In

Current Group applies the ApplyOnNew RuleSets that are activated for the group in which the agent resides, only

Parent Tree Group applies the ApplyOnNew RuleSets that are activated for the immediately preceding group (or the top group, the Agents group)

Sub Tree Groups applies the ApplyOnNew RuleSets that are activated to the agents in only the groups subordinate to the current group.

Apply Options








5 Click OK.






Table 31 Group ApplyOnNew Properties (part 2 of 2)

Option Description


Designating RuleSets to Be Applied After Any RuleSet is Applied (ApplyOnApply)

Designating RuleSets to Be Applied After Any RuleSet is Applied (ApplyOnApply)

This task involves setting up RuleSets to be applied automatically after any RuleSet is applied to an agent.

RuleSets assigned to the ApplyOnNew container can also be set up to ApplyOnApply.

Before You Begin

This procedure assumes that you have completed step 1 and step 2 of the task “Activate ApplyOnNew For Either A RuleSet or Folder of RuleSets” on page 152.

To Activate ApplyOnApply For Either A RuleSet or A Folder of RuleSets

1 Within the ApplyOnNew container, navigate to the RuleSet or folder of RuleSets that you want automatically applied after any RuleSet has been applied.

2 Right-click the RuleSet or folder.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the ApplyOnNew menu.

3 Choose ApplyOnApply Activated.

PATROL Configuration Manager places a checkmark to the left of the menu command to indicate that the RuleSet or folder of RuleSets will be applied after any other RuleSet is applied.


Designating Rules to be Updated Automatically (LinkedRuleSets)


This task involves designating certain rules to be assigned automatically to an agent for updating when the rule that is referenced is modified. Even though the rule is automatically assigned to an agent, it still must be applied to the agent before the change that it contains takes effect.

To Assign a LinkedRuleSet to a Group

1 In the RuleSet tree view, navigate to the RuleSet that you want to assign to a group. If you want to assign only certain rules, consider creating a separate RuleSet for those rules that are good candidates for static linkage.

2 Click on the RuleSet or folder and drag it to the LinkedRuleSet container of the group to which you want to assign the rules.

PATROL Configuration Manager places a reference to the RuleSet in the LinkedRuleSet container.

3 In the Agent tree view, right-click on the LinkedRuleSet container and choose Apply Linked RuleSet.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Group Apply LinkedRuleSet dialog box as shown in Figure 28.



Figure 28 Group Apply LinkedRuleSet Dialog Box

4 Use the Group Apply LinkedRuleSets dialog box to specify how rules are applied. The properties are described in Table 32.

Table 32 Group Apply Linked RuleSets Properties (part 1 of 2)

Option Description

Apply to Agents in

Current Group Only applies the rules in the LinkedRuleSets container to just the agents in the immediate group

Agents in Current and All SubGroups

applies the rules in the LinkedRuleSets container to all agents in this group and any subordinate groups

Apply All LinkedRuleSet Items In

Current Group applies the rules in the LinkedRuleSets container that are activated for the group in which the agent resides, only

Parent Tree Group applies the rules in the LinkedRuleSets container that are activated for the immediately preceding group (or the top group, the Agents group)

Sub Tree Groups applies the rules in the LinkedRuleSets container that are activated to the agents in only the groups subordinate to the current group

Apply Options





5 Click OK.

The rules are assigned to the group.

To Assign a LinkedRuleSet to an Agent

1 In the RuleSet tree view, navigate to the RuleSet that you want to assign to the agent. If you want to assign only certain rules, consider creating a separate RuleSet for those rules that are good candidates for static linkage.

2 Click on the RuleSet or folder and drag it to the LinkedRuleSet container of the agent to which you want to assign the rules.

PATROL Configuration Manager places a reference to the RuleSet in the LinkedRuleSet container.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Agent Apply LinkedRuleSet dialog box as shown in Figure 29.









Table 32 Group Apply Linked RuleSets Properties (part 2 of 2)

Option Description



Figure 29 Agent Apply LinkedRuleSet Dialog Box

3 Use the Apply LinkedRuleSet dialog box to specify how rules are applied. The properties are described in Table 33.

Table 33 Agent Apply LinkedRuleSet Properties (part 1 of 2)

Option Description

Apply All LinkedRuleSets Items In

Current Agent applies the rules in the LinkedRuleSets container to the agent, only

Parent Tree Group applies the rules in the LinkedRuleSets container to the selected agent and all agents that are in the same group

Sub Tree Groups applies the rules in the LinkedRuleSets container to the selected agent and all agents in groups subordinate to the current group

Apply Options








4 Click OK.

The rules are assigned to the agent.






Table 33 Agent Apply LinkedRuleSet Properties (part 2 of 2)

Option Description


Identifying Linked RuleSets Associated with an Agent


This procedure describes how to search groups and multiple agents for Linked RuleSets associated with the groups or agents. Use this procedure to determine whether your RuleSets are linked to the appropriate groups and agents. You can also use this procedure to find which RuleSets are not linked to an agent to which they should be.

To Search for Linked RuleSets Associated with Groups or Agents

1 In the Agent tree view, choose the groups or agents that you want to search.

2 Choose a group, an agent, or agents to search.

To select a range, click on the group or agent at the top or beginning of your range and then hold down Shift while clicking on the bottom or end of the range. To select multiple groups or agents that are not contiguous, hold down Ctrl while you click the individual items.

3 Choose Search => Linked RuleSets.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Search LinkedRuleSets dialog box.

4 Use the Search LinkedRuleSet dialog box to discover which rules are statically linked (by means of LinkedRuleSets) to which agents. The properties are described in Table 34.

5 Click Search.

Table 34 Search LinkedRuleSet Properties

Option Description

Group Filter shows only groups that match the specified criteria

Agent Filter shows only agents that match the specified criteria

RuleSet Filter shows only RuleSets that match the specified criteria

Find Non-linked RuleSets shows all groups and agents that are not linked to the specified RuleSet

Partial String Match uses partial string to evaluate matches for the specified filters

Case Sensitive Search uses the case of strings to evaluate matches for the specified filters

Use Regular Expressions employs regular expressions to evaluate matches for the specified filter



PATROL Configuration Manager locates the rule sets that meet the search criteria and displays them in the Searched LinkedRuleSets Results dialog box as shown in Figure 30, which includes the item type (group or agent), full path in the Agent tree view, and rule set name.

Figure 30 Search LinkedRuleSets Results Dialog Box

6 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager closes the results dialog box.


Accommodating Computer-Specific Data

Accommodating Computer-Specific DataThe power of RuleSets relies on a certain level of standardization and uniformity across PATROL installations and the computers on which they run. However, no two computers are completely identical. Rule Aliases enable you to write standardized rules that can accommodate the differences among relatively similar computers.

Concept

A Rule Alias is a variable. Rule Aliases enable you to insert a placeholder in a rule. The placeholder is replaced by a computer-specific value when the rule is applied.

Operation

When the PATROL Configuration Manager processes a rule that contains a Rule Alias, the value assigned to the alias replaces the alias name. If an undefined Rule Alias name is used, PATROL Configuration Manager will fail the Apply for the related Agent(s).

EXAMPLE To write a rule to set a configuration variable that contains the computer name, you would write a rule that contains the predefined Rule Alias, %HOSTNAME%.


Predefined Rule Aliases (System Variables)

Predefined Rule Aliases (System Variables)

The PATROL Configuration Manager provides some predefined Rule Aliases that provide access to computer information. Table 35 lists the predefined Rule Aliases.

Storage

The configuration manager stores Rule Aliases in the rulealiases.ini file. The file is structured similarly to the agents.ini in which Rule Aliases that apply to all agents are stored at the top of the file and computer-specific aliases are listed in their respective agent section.

Defining a Rule Alias

This task describes how to create a Rule Alias, assign it a value, and designate to which agents it applies.

To Define a Rule Alias

1 From the menu bar, choose File => Configure => Rule Alias.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Configure: Rule Aliases dialog box.

Table 35 Predefined Rule Aliases

Rule Alias Description

%HOSTNAME% computer name of the Agent the rule is applied to

%DISPNAME% display name of the Agent the rule is applied to

%IPADDRESS% IP address of the computer on which the agent is running and to which the rule applies

This alias requires DNS to be functional.

%PORT% port used to communicate with the Agent the rule is applied to

%PROTOCOL% protocol used to communicate with the Agent the rule is applied to

%LA_TIME% last time and date a RuleSet was applied to the Agent, timestamp is taken from tlog

If the tlog for the agent is empty, the timestamp for the last applied RuleSet is the current time.


Defining a Rule Alias

2 Click Add.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Rule Aliases: Add Rule Aliases dialog box as shown in Figure 31.

Figure 31 Rule Aliases: Add Rule Alias Dialog Box

3 Use the Rule Aliases: Add Rule Alias dialog box to define the Rule Alias. The properties are described in Table 36.

4 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager closes the dialog box and displays the Rule Alias on the Configure: Rule Aliases dialog box.

5 Click Close.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the Rule Alias to rulealiases.ini and closes the dialog box.

Table 36 Rule Aliases: Add Rule Alias Properties

Field Description

Alias Name the name of the Rule Alias, which can consist of alphanumeric characters, dash (-), and underscore (_).

Alias Value the value that will replace the variable when the rule is processed; this value must consists only of those characters supported by the of PATROL Agent

Agent the computer or computers to which the Rule Alias applies; select one from the drop-down menu

<default> represents all computers. Agent specific Rule Aliases take precedence over <default> Rule Aliases.


Viewing and Adding Missing Rule Alias


This task describes how to define a rule alias after the configuration manager has attempted to process a rule that references a non-existent rule alias.

Before You Begin

The configuration manager makes this feature available only after an apply operation has failed due to a missing Rule Alias. To view or add missing Rule Aliases using this procedure, an apply operation has to fail due to a missing alias.

To View a Missing Rule Alias

1 In the Job Status Information dialog box, right click a job with the status, FAILED Undefined Aliases: alias_name.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays a drop-down menu.

2 Choose View Missing Rule Aliases.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Missing Rule Aliases dialog box, which lists the agent, RuleSet, rule/variable, operation, and value as shown in Figure 32. The rule/variable contains the missing Rule Alias, denoted by percent signs (%).

Figure 32 Missing Rule Aliases Dialog Box

3 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager closes the dialog box and displays the Job Status Information dialog box.



4 Click Close.


To Add a Missing Rule Alias

1 In the Job Status Information dialog box, right click a job with the status, FAILED Undefined Aliases: alias_name.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays a drop-down menu.

2 Choose Add Missing Rule Aliases.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Rule Aliases: Add Rule Alias dialog box, in which the Alias Name and Agent values are displayed in non-editable text fields as shown in Figure 33.

Figure 33 Rule Aliases: Add Rule Alias Dialog Box

3 In Alias Value, enter the desired value.

4 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the to the rulealiases.ini file.

If more than one Rule Alias is missing, PATROL Configuration Manager redisplays the dialog box with the next missing Rule Alias. Otherwise, the configuration manager closes the dialog box and displays the Job Status Information dialog box.

5 Click Close.


6 Reapply the RuleSets.


C h a p t e r 6
6 Manage Parameters
This chapter describes how to use PATROL Configuration Manager to set up borders and alarm ranges for parameters. You can also control how frequently information is gathered for parameters. The following topics are discussed:

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Thresholds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Range Settings for Monitoring Increasing and Decreasing Parameter Values . 172Poll Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Establishing Thresholds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Accessing Parameters Threshold Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Specifying a Parameter for Which to Establish Thresholds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Defining Border and Alarm Ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Setting Poll Times. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180Accessing Parameter Poll Time Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180Specifying a Parameter for Which to Set a Poll Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Defining Collection Cycles by Setting Poll Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Retrieving Customized Parameter Settings and Storing Them as a RuleSet . . . . . . 184Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184Saving Parameter Settings in a RuleSet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Importing a RuleSet into PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186


Introduction

IntroductionThrough the graphical interface of the PATROL Configuration Manager, you can create rules that set parameter thresholds and establish data collection intervals (also referred to as poll times) for individual parameters. The thresholds are stored in agent configuration variables, not in the KM files. This feature makes upgrades easier since your thresholds are stored externally to the KM files. You can apply those parameter settings, through rules, to PATROL Agents throughout your enterprise.

Saving parameter settings in PATROL Configuration Database variables

■ allows you to quickly and easily reapply them when upgrading from one version of a PATROL product to another

■ allows you to customize parameter settings once and distribute those settings throughout your enterprise to PATROL Agents monitoring the same applications

PATROL Configuration Manager provides a utility that retrieves existing parameter settings from a Knowledge Module (KM) and converts the settings to rules in a RuleSet that can then be applied to other agents that are running the same KM. You can use this utility to fine tune PATROL to monitor exactly what you want and then save those settings to a RuleSet and apply that RuleSet throughout your enterprise.

Requirements

The PATROL Knowledge Module for Event Management must be installed and loaded on the PATROL Agent for the agent to process the rules containing the parameter settings and thresholds. An OK job status in PATROL Configuration Manager indicates only that rules have been successfully received by the agent.

Thresholds

In PATROL, thresholds are value ranges that can have alert changes (events that change an object’s state from any one state: OK, WARN, and ALARM, to another) and recovery actions associated with them. When a parameter value breaches a threshold, depending upon how you define the settings for that parameter, PATROL can issue a state change action and/or run a recovery action. The three thresholds are Border Range, Alarm Range 1, and Alarm Range 2.


Thresholds

Border Range

The Border Range defines the range of acceptable values that a parameter can return. If the parameter returns a value inside the range limit but outside of the border range (either less than the minimum or greater than the maximum), PATROL issues an alert and changes the state of the parameter to the one assigned to the border range.

If it is possible for the parameter to return a value outside the range limits, you can set a border range for information only or as a third-level alert condition that represents either a warning state or an alarm state. If you use the border range as a third-level alert range, you may need to make the maximum range limit lower than you would without the third-level alert.

Alarm Range 1

The Alarm Range 1 is the first-level alert condition that typically represents a warning state or an alarm state. It must meet the following criteria:

■ must be less than Alarm2 values, if Alarm2 is set■ cannot overlap the Alarm2 range■ cannot fall outside the border range

Alarm Range 2

The Alarm Range 2 is second-level alert condition that typically represents a warning state or an alarm state. It must meet the following criteria:

■ must be greater than Alarm1 values■ cannot overlap the Alarm1 range■ cannot fall outside the border range

NOTE When you make threshold changes using PATROL Configuration Manager, these changes are not reflected in the console display because the changes are made at the agent, not in the console KM files.


Range Settings for Monitoring Increasing and Decreasing Parameter Values

Range Settings for Monitoring Increasing and Decreasing Parameter Values

Thresholds for PATROL parameters can be set to trigger an alarm when a value becomes

■ greater than a set maximum value, as when the amount of used disk space exceeds 95%

or

■ less than a set minimum value, such as when the amount of free memory is less than 2 MBs.

Monitoring a Parameter with a Decreasing Value

If you want the parameter to alarm when a resource is diminishing and a low value occurs, set the thresholds as follows.

■ Alarm1 for the alarm state■ Alarm2 for the warning state

EXAMPLE If you are monitoring CPU utilization of a computer and you want PATROL to issue a warning when utilization drops below 10% and issue a warning and run a backup utility when utilization goes below 5%, you could choose these settings.

Table 37 Example of Monitoring a Parameter with a Decreasing Value

Thresholds Min Max State Recovery Action

Range Limit 0 100 not applicable not applicable

Border 0 100 ALARM none

Alarm1 0 5 ALARM none

Alarm2 6 10 WARN run backup utility


Poll Times

Monitoring a Parameter with an Increasing Value

If you want the parameter to alarm when a high value occurs, set the thresholds as follows.

■ Alarm1 for the warning state■ Alarm2 for the alarm state

Poll Times

The poll time defines the collection cycle interval. Poll times determine how often the PATROL Agent gathers statistical data reported by parameters.

Applicable Parameter Types

Consumer parameters, which constitute a majority of the PATROL parameters, inherit their poll times from the collector parameter that provides their data. You cannot directly change consumer poll times by selecting the parameter and scheduling a time. To change the frequency with which a consumer parameter receives data, you must discover which collector parameter sets its value and then change the poll time of that collector.

EXAMPLE If you are monitoring server resource consumption by users and you want PATROL to issue a warning when resource consumption exceeds 20% and a warning when it exceeds 25%, you could choose these settings.

Table 38 Example of Monitoring a Parameter with an Increasing Value

Thresholds Min Max State Recovery Action

Range Limit 0 100 not applicable not applicable

Border 0 25 ALARM none

Alarm1 20 23 WARN send a message to the user

Alarm2 24 25 ALARM run a script that prevents the user from spawning any more processes


Establishing Thresholds

Differences in Format

PATROL Configuration Manager accepts poll time in minutes. However, the PATROL Agent’s configuration database stores this information in seconds. When you view parameter settings using any of the PATROL consoles such as the PATROL Central Operator – Web Edition, it displays poll times in HH:MM:SS format.

Establishing ThresholdsPATROL Configuration Manager allows you to define these parameter settings locally on every agent. The configuration manager gives you the power to define these settings once and distribute these changes to one agent or every agent in your enterprise.

Using the configuration manager’s interface, you can only specify one parameter at a time. For information about how to retrieve all the parameter settings for a specified knowledge module, see “Retrieving Customized Parameter Settings and Storing Them as a RuleSet” on page 184.

Accessing Parameters Threshold Settings

PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to set the thresholds for one agent at a time.

To Access the Threshold Settings

1 Right-click on an agent whose parameters you want to set thresholds and schedule polling times.

2 Choose Event Management => Parameter Settings.

3 Choose the Thresholds tab.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Parameter Setting - Thresholds dialog box as shown in Figure 34.


Accessing Parameters Threshold Settings

Figure 34 Thresholds Tab of Parameter Setting Dialog Box


After you have accessed the Thresholds tab, you need to perform the following tasks:

■ “Specifying a Parameter for Which to Establish Thresholds” on page 176■ “Defining Border and Alarm Ranges” on page 179


Specifying a Parameter for Which to Establish Thresholds


Because you can set thresholds for only one parameter at a time, you can choose only one parameter and you must select at least one. You cannot attempt to apply thresholds to a host, an application class, or an instance.

Before You Begin

You must complete the procedure, “To Access the Threshold Settings” on page 174.

To Select a Parameter For Which to Define Thresholds

1 On the Parameter Settings dialog box on the Thresholds tab, click Add Objects.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Object Selection dialog box as shown in Figure 35.

NOTE The list of objects is static and does not reflect the real-time, currently loaded objects of the agent. The PATROL objects displayed in the Object Selection dialog box were available when PATROL Configuration Manager was released. To update the list of objects, navigate to BMC_ROOT\pconfmgr\patrol and manually edit *.def, *.prm, *.sid files for each respective application class.



Figure 35 Object Selection Dialog Box

2 Choose either the Show All Hosts check box or the Get Object from Agent check box.

■ Show All Hosts—the configuration manager lists all agents that are registered with the manager

■ Get Object from Agent—the configuration manager retrieves the application classes, instances and parameters from the PATROL Agent runtime namespace rather than the static files created at installation; the information displayed represent a snapshot of objects available at that point in time; if you choose this option, Show All Hosts and Hosts are inactive

3 In the Hosts list box, choose the computer for which you want to establish thresholds.

NOTE If you have not accessed the Secure Key Store (SKS) database during your current PATROL Configuration Manager session, the configuration manager will prompt you for the password for the SKS database. For more information about accessing and managing the SKS database, see “Managing Unique User Names and Passwords for Individual Agents” on page 91.



4 In the Application Class list box, choose the application class for whose parameter you want to set thresholds.

5 In the Instance list box, choose an instance. To apply threshold settings to parameters of all instances, choose __ANYINST__.

6 In the Parameter list box, choose the parameter whose thresholds you want to set.

7 Click Add.

If you do not add the selection, PATROL Configuration Manager does not retain it when you exit the dialog box.

8 Click Close.

PATROL Configuration Manager closes the dialog box and displays the parameter in the Selected Objects List.


Defining Border and Alarm Ranges

Defining Border and Alarm Ranges

Range controls define for PATROL which parameter values are acceptable and which are unacceptable. Unacceptable values are defined explicitly using alarm ranges. Acceptable values are often defined implicitly in that acceptable values lie outside the alarm ranges but inside the border range and range limits.

To Set the Border and Alarm Ranges

1 Click the tab of the range that you want to set.

■ Border Range—defines the range of acceptable values for the parameter. ■ Alarm Range 1 and Alarm Range 2—establish ranges of undesirable (WARN) and

unacceptable values (ALARM).

PATROL Configuration Manager activates all the fields on the tab as shown Figure 36.

Figure 36 Border and Alarm Range Pane

2 Choose Enable.

3 In Alert State, choose one of the alert states. When the value of the parameter goes outside the range, PATROL changes the alert state to the one that you specify. Select

■ OK—changes the state of the parameter to OK when the result of the range breach is informational for users or non-critical to the system

■ WARN—changes the state of the parameter to WARN when the value constitutes a breach of the range, which is undesirable

■ ALARM—changes the state of the parameter to ALARM when the value constitutes a breach of the range, which is unacceptable

4 In the Range Settings section, define the range using Min and Max.


Setting Poll Times

5 In Trigger Alarm, select a sensitivity setting that determines how quickly and under what conditions PATROL issues an alert.

■ After an alarm occurs N times—PATROL ignores a user-defined number of breaches and thus discounts random spikes. When you select this trigger alarm, you must also specify in N how many consecutive times the range can be breached before the PATROL issues an alert and changes the state of the parameter.

■ Immediately on alarm—PATROL issues an alert the first time the range is breached.

■ After all recovery actions fail—PATROL runs all recovery actions, and if the parameter value is still within the defined warning or alarm range, then PATROL issues an alert.

6 If you set Trigger Alarm to After an alarm occurs N times, in N, enter the number of consecutive times the parameter value must fall within either the Alarm Range 1 or Alarm Range 2 or without of the Border Range before PATROL issues an alert.

7 Repeat steps for other ranges, if applicable.

Setting Poll TimesPATROL Configuration Manager can only set the poll times for collector parameters and standard parameters.

Accessing Parameter Poll Time Settings

PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to set the poll times for one agent at a time.

NOTE Depending upon the type of range: border or alarm, the definition differs between what constitutes a breach of the range and thus is cause for generating an alarm.

■ For the Border Range, any value outside the range (less than the minimum or greater than the maximum) constitutes a breach of the range and thus generates an alarm.

■ For Alarms Range 1 and Alarms Range 2, any value that falls within the range (greater than or equal to the minimum and less than or equal to the maximum) constitutes a breach of the range and thus generates an alarm.


Accessing Parameter Poll Time Settings

To Access the Poll Time Settings

1 Right-click on an agent for whose parameters you want to schedule polling times.

2 Choose Event Management => Parameter Settings.

3 Choose the Polltimes tab.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Parameter Setting - Polltimes dialog box as shown in Figure 37.

Figure 37 Polltimes Tab of Parameter Setting Dialog Box


After you have accessed the Polltimes tab, you need to perform the following tasks:

■ “Specifying a Parameter for Which to Set a Poll Time” on page 182■ “Defining Collection Cycles by Setting Poll Time” on page 183


Specifying a Parameter for Which to Set a Poll Time

Specifying a Parameter for Which to Set a Poll Time

You must set a poll time for one and only one parameter at a time. Using the configuration manager, you cannot schedule collection cycles (poll times) for a host, an application class, or an instance.

Before You Begin

You must complete the procedure, “To Access the Poll Time Settings” on page 181.

To Select a Parameter For Which to Set Poll Times

1 On the Parameter Settings dialog box on the Polltime tab, click Add Objects.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Object Selection dialog box as shown in Figure 35 on page 177.



■ Get Object from Agent—the configuration manager retrieves the application classes, instances and parameters from the PATROL Agent runtime namespace rather than the static files created at installation; the information displayed represent a snapshot of objects available at that point in time; if you select this option, Show All Hosts and Hosts are inactive

3 In the Hosts list box, choose the computer for which you want to set the poll time.

4 In Application Class, choose the application class for whose parameter you want to set the poll time.

5 In Instance, choose an instance. To apply a poll time to parameters of all instances, choose __ANYINST__.

6 In Parameter, choose the parameter whose poll time you want to set.



Defining Collection Cycles by Setting Poll Time

7 Click Add.


8 Click Close.

PATROL Configuration Manager closes the dialog box and displays the parameter in the Selected Objects List.

Defining Collection Cycles by Setting Poll Time

The poll time defines the interval between attempts by the agent to gather data specified by knowledge modules.

To Set Poll Time

1 Place the cursor in Set Polltime.

2 Type the amount of time that PATROL waits between data collecting cycles for the parameter. Use the following format:

mm.ss, where mm is expressed in minutes and ss is expressed in tenths of minutes, for example, 10.50 = 10 minutes and 30 seconds

3 Click OK to close the dialog box and save the poll time.

NOTE Poll times can be set directly only for collector and standard parameters. However, the Object Selection dialog box of the PATROL Configuration Manager does not distinguish among parameters types. Therefore, you must know which parameters are consumers and which are standard or collector parameters.

For information about parameters, see the PATROL Parameter Reference Manual or the parameter help for the respective PATROL product.


Retrieving Customized Parameter Settings and Storing Them as a RuleSet

Retrieving Customized Parameter Settings and Storing Them as a RuleSet

PATROL Configuration Manager provides a utility, the ChangeSpring Knowledge Module, that enables you to retrieve existing parameter settings for an application and saves those settings as configuration rules. Using the configuration manager, you can then apply those setting in the form of RuleSets to selected agents.

Prerequisites

The process of retrieving parameter settings and saving them as RuleSets requires that the following components be installed with these products:

■ PATROL Central – Web Edition or PATROL Central – Microsoft Windows Servers (If this console is used, the knowledge module has to reside only on the agent)

or

■ PATROL Console for UNIX or PATROL Console for Microsoft Windows Servers

— PATROL Console 3.x running in Developer Mode— PATROL Configuration Manager 1.5.00 or later (installed on the computer

running the console)

■ PATROL for UNIX or PATROL for MS Windows

— PATROL Agent 3.5.x.— PATROL KM for Event Management 2.6.00 or later(installed in agent and

console)

NOTE This procedure does not capture the settings of deactivated parameters. To capture these settings, you must first activate their respective parameters.


Saving Parameter Settings in a RuleSet

Saving Parameter Settings in a RuleSet

Gathering the parameter settings of a knowledge module and storing them in pconfig variables is the first task.

To Create a RuleSet from Parameter Settings

1 Start the PATROL Console. If the AS_CHANGESPRING KM is loaded on the agent, you can start the console in either Operator or Developer mode. Otherwise, you must start the console in Developer mode.

2 Load the AS_CHANGESPRING KM into the PATROL Console. The KM is located in BMC_BASE/pconfmgr/utils.

3 Choose the PATROL Agent that possesses the parameter customizations that you want to the KMs are loaded with the default configuration.

4 Right-click the PATROL Agent and choose Show System Output Window.

5 Right-click AS_Changespring Instance.

6 Choose KM Commands => Get Global Parameters => Create RuleSets => Select Knowledge Modules.

7 Choose the KMs for which you want to generate a RuleSet from the list.

8 Click Accept.

The RuleSet is stored in a file with the same name as the RuleSet and the extension *.cfg. The name and location of the file is displayed in the System Output Window.

The RuleSet creation process creates rules for parameters in the PATROL Agent’s namespace for the selected Knowledge Module. The following example is what you would see, if after you imported the RuleSet into PATROL Configuration Manager, you right-click on the RuleSet and then choose Edit => Source.


Importing a RuleSet into PATROL Configuration Manager

Importing a RuleSet into PATROL Configuration Manager

Once you have created a RuleSet, you must move the file containing the RuleSet into directory structure of PATROL Configuration Manager. Relocating the file in the appropriate directory structure makes it available to the configuration manager.

To Make the RuleSet Available to PATROL Configuration Manager

1 Open the file manager of your choice.

2 Navigate to the location of the *.cfg file.

3 Rename the file using the following naming convention: KM_NAME_purpose.cfg. Use only alphanumeric characters, dashes and hyphens such as NT_CPU_default_thresholds.cfg.

4 Copy the file to the PATROL Configuration Manager directory, BMC_BASE/pconfmgr/rulesets/Shipped/KM_NAME.

5 Start PATROL Configuration Manager.

6 In the RuleSet tree view, navigate to the RuleSets/Shipped/KM_NAME/KM_NAME_PURPOSE.cfg.

7 Expand the RuleSet and review the rules. If your RuleSet is not visible, in the menu bar choose Other => Refresh RuleSets.

EXAMPLE "/AS/EVENTSPRING/PARAM_SETTINGS/THRESHOLDS/NT_CPU/__ANYINST__/CPUprcrInterruptsPerSec" = { REPLACE = "1,0 0 0 0 0 0,0 0 0 0 0 0,0 0 0 0 0 0"},

"/AS/EVENTSPRING/PARAM_SETTINGS/THRESHOLDS/NT_CPU/__ANYINST__/CPUprcrPrivTimePercent" = { REPLACE = "1,1 0 100 0 0 2,1 90 95 0 0 1,1 95 100 0 0 2"},

"/AS/EVENTSPRING/PARAM_SETTINGS/THRESHOLDS/NT_CPU/__ANYINST__/CPUprcrProcessorTimePercent" = { REPLACE = "1,1 0 100 0 0 2,1 90 95 0 0 1,1 95 100 0 0 2"},

"/AS/EVENTSPRING/PARAM_SETTINGS/THRESHOLDS/NT_CPU/__ANYINST__/CPUprcrUserTimePercent" = { REPLACE = "1,1 0 100 0 0 2,1 90 95 0 0 1,1 95 100 0 0 2"},

"/AS/EVENTSPRING/PARAM_SETTINGS/STATUSFLAGS/paramSettingsStatusFlag" = { REPLACE = "2" }


C h a p t e r 7
7 Establish Notification and Manage Alerts
This chapter describes how to set up notifications so that a user is automatically notified by email, pager, or other communication method when some aspect of a application or system that is being monitored becomes unfavorable. The chapter also provides information about how to manage the alerts that trigger the notifications. The following topics are discussed:

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Notification Rules Stored as pconfig Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Setting Precedence: Rules or KM Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Objects and Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

PATROL Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191Difference between Blackouts and Overrides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Recommended Configuration Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193Alert Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Adding Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Removing Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198Setting Override Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Alert Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Setting Up Notification for PATROL Objects in Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201Determining How Many Times Alerts Are Resent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Suppressing Alerts upon Agent Restart to Avoid False Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204Assigning Custom Identifiers to PATROL Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206Turning Monitoring On and Off at the Application Class Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Recovery Action Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Enabling Recovery Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Scope of Commands and Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210Defining Recovery Action Command Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210Defining Recovery Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Notification Configuration and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Designating Who Receives Notifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Designating Type of Notification Sent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Determining from Where Notifications Are Sent and Managed . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221


Rewording Notification Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225Message Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228Disabling Notification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230Stopping Notification For Specific Periods (Notification Blackouts) . . . . . . . . . . 232

Notification Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235RuleSet Used for Testing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236Testing Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236


Overview

OverviewThe Event Management menu command in PATROL Configuration Manager provides an interface with the PATROL KM for Event Management. Use the Event Management commands to create and test Event Management rules without having to use the PATROL Console or the New Rule command on the RuleSet shortcut menu.

The Event Management menu contains that control notifications and alerts are

■ Alert Settings—sets Event Management rules such as blackouts and message rewording

■ What If—simulates rule lookup behavior; rule lookup includes both the sequence in which rules are used and the rule lookup order.

After an Event Management rule is created using either the Alert Settings, the rule appears in the Agent tree view under the selected agent. However, the rule is not applied until you apply it to the agent. You can save the rule to a RuleSet in the RuleSet tree view and then apply the rule to agents or groups.

Notification Rules Stored as pconfig Variables

Notification rules are stored in the PATROL Configuration Database (pconfig) as variables. They are not stored in the KM. Pconfig variables override KM parameter default settings. When you upgrade a KM, the pconfig settings are retained. You do not need to reconfigure an agent after an upgrade.

NOTE You must have the PATROL KM for Event Management installed, loaded, and configured on the PATROL Agents that use the Event Management rules if you are using Event Management commands.


Setting Precedence: Rules or KM Values

Setting Precedence: Rules or KM Values

/AS/EVENTSPRING/PARAM_SETTINGS/STATUSFLAGS/paramSettingsStatusFlag, a configuration variable, determines whether PATROL uses the PATROL KM for Event Management rules for parameter thresholds/poll times or the values stored in the individual knowledge modules (KM). Valid values are

1—the values set by the PATROL KM for Event Management rules are used0—the values stored in the individual KM files are used

The default is 1, the rules take precedence.

PrerequisitesBefore you begin establishing notification and setting up event management in PATROL Configuration Manager, you must

■ install PATROL KM for Event Management■ set up notification scripts to run in your environment■ test notification scripts

Objects and OverridesAll of the tasks described in this chapter are performed with the aid of the Alert Settings dialog box, which consist of several tabs. Most of the tasks can be performed on objects at various levels of the PATROL object hierarchy (computers, application classes, instances, parameters).

To provide granularity and flexibility, most of the Alert Settings dialog box tabs provide Add Objects, Remove Objects, and Show Override Periods controls.

You perform these tasks to assign behavior to an object or set of objects. You can also specify a period of time during which the assigned behavior will not take place.


PATROL Objects

PATROL Objects

PATROL objects are the computers, application classes, instances, and parameters that PATROL uses to monitor systems and applications.

Advantages

In the regular PATROL Console, you usually work with one object at a time. The PATROL Configuration Manager alert settings dialog box enables you to work with many objects at one time.

Updating PATROL Object Lists

The list of objects in the add object list is a list of standard PATROL objects that is not dynamically updated from the PATROL Agent. You can add objects to this list. If the objects that you want to work with do not appear in the list of objects, see “Updating the PATROL Object List”in Chapter 8, “Move PATROL Information into PATROL Configuration Manager.”

Difference between Blackouts and Overrides

A blackout period is a specific period of time during which PATROL does not issue notifications. An override period is a specific time when a rule and its behavior is superseded by another rule and alternate behavior.

Use a blackout period when you do not want notifications sent to anyone, regardless of the alert status of the specified PATROL objects.

Use the Override Period feature when you do not want certain conditions (defined within a rule) applied to specific PATROL objects during certain times but you still want the condition (and thus the rule) applied to a majority of the PATROL objects during the override period.

NOTE You can also suppress notifications indefinitely for selected PATROL objects by setting the Notification System to None.


Difference between Blackouts and Overrides

Example of a Blackout Period

Create a rule to notify John whenever CPU usage exceeds an acceptable amount and the percentage value enters the Alarm threshold range.

/AS/EVENTSPRING/ALERT/EMAIL/CPU/CPU__Total/CPUprcrProcessorTime/emailTargetsLocalALARM = [email protected]

On Monday, the Information Support group will take the computer out of production and run some routine performance tests on it. Set a blackout period from midnight to 8 pm for the CPU usage rule above so that John will not receive notification during the test period.

/AS/EVENTSPRING/BLACKOUT/ CPU/CPU__Total/CPUprcrProcessorTime/blackoutPeriod = Mon [email protected] 0 800

From midnight to 8 pm on Monday, notification will not be sent to [email protected] even if CPU usage enters into Alarm threshold range.

Example of an Override Period

Create a rule to notify Bob and Jane when CPU usage exceeds an acceptable amount and the percentage value enters the Alarm threshold range.

/AS/EVENTSPRING/ALERT/EMAIL/CPU/CPU__Total/CPUprcrProcessorTime/emailTargetsLocalALARM = [email protected],[email protected]

Set up an override period for the rule so that Jane is not notified during the hours from midnight to 8 pm.

/AS/EVENTSPRING/OVERRIDE/EMAIL/CPU/CPU__Total/CPUprcrProcessorTime/emailTargetsLocalALARM = Mon 0 2000 = [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>

From midnight to 8 pm on Monday notification will not be sent to [email protected]. However, [email protected] will continue to receive notification during this override period.


Recommended Configuration Order

Recommended Configuration OrderTo set up notification and alert management and take full advantage of PATROL Configuration Manager and PATROL KM for Event Management, you must perform some setup and configuration tasks in either one product or the other. Some task can be performed in either product, but need be done in only one. Table 39 describes in which product each task can be performed and suggests a recommended order.

Table 39 Configuration Order (part 1 of 2)

Configuration Task Application Manual / Chapter / Section

1. Identify and Set Up Notification Servers

PATROL KM for Event Management

PATROL KM for Event Management User Guide / Chapter 3, “Using the PATROL KM for Event Management” / “Configuration Tasks” and “Configuring Notification Server”

2. Identify and Set Up Notification Targets for PATROL Objects


PATROL KM for Event Management User Guide / Chapter 3, “Using the PATROL KM for Event Management” /”Configuration Tasks” and “Setting Notification Targets”


PATROL Configuration Manager User Guide / Chapter 7, “Designating Who Receives Notifications” / “Designating Who Receives Notifications” on page 216

3. Identify, edit, and test the notification script.


PATROL KM for Event Management User Guide / Chapter 3, “Using the PATROL KM for Event Management” / “Using Notification Scripts” and “Testing Notification Scripts”

4. Configure a notification server.


PATROL KM for Event Management User Guide / Chapter 3, “Using the PATROL KM for Event Management” /“Configuring Notification Servers”

5. Reword default notification message for the notification server.


PATROL KM for Event Management User Guide / Chapter 3, “Using the PATROL KM for Event Management” / “Rewording Notification Messages”


PATROL Configuration Manager User Guide / Chapter 7, “Designating Who Receives Notifications” / “Designating Who Receives Notifications” on page 216


Recommended Configuration Order

6. Use PATROL Configuration Manager to copy the notification server settings (rules) to the other notification servers


For an example of how to use the PATROL Configuration Manager, see PATROL KM for Event Management User Guide / Chapter 3, “Using the PATROL KM for Event Management” / “To Assign Notification Servers for NT2 and NT3”.


PATROL Configuration Manager User Guide / Chapter 5, “Work with Rules, RuleSets, and Configurations” / “Creating, Editing, and Managing Rules” on page 125

7. Configure remote agents to use a notification server.


PATROL KM for Event Management User Guide / Chapter 3, “Using the PATROL KM for Event Management” / “Configuring Remote Agents”

8. Use PATROL Configuration Manager to copy agent rules to other similar agents.


For example, you would copy the settings to other agents that will use the same notification server. For an example of how to accomplish this task, see PATROL KM for Event Management User Guide / Chapter 3, “Using the PATROL KM for Event Management” / “To Assign Notification Servers for NT2 and NT3”.


PATROL Configuration Manager User Guide / Chapter 5, “Work with Rules, RuleSets, and Configurations” / “Creating, Editing, and Managing Rules” on page 125

9. Configure notification rules and parameter settings for the agents.


PATROL KM for Event Management User Guide / Chapter 3, “Using the PATROL KM for Event Management” / “Setting Notification Targets,” “Managing Parameter Thresholds and Poll Times,” and “Configuring Alert Settings”


PATROL Configuration Manager User Guide / Chapter 7, “Establish Notification and Manage Alerts” / “Designating Who Receives Notifications” on page 216, “Establishing Thresholds” on page 174, “Setting Poll Times” on page 180, and “Alert Settings” on page 195

10. Use PATROL Configuration Manager to copy agent rules to other similar agents.


PATROL Configuration Manager User Guide / Chapter 5, “Work with Rules, RuleSets, and Configurations” / “Creating, Managing, and Deleting RuleSets” on page 116

11. Configure availability monitoring.


PATROL KM for Event Management User Guide / Chapter 3, “Using the PATROL KM for Event Management” / “Configuring Availability Monitoring”

Table 39 Configuration Order (part 2 of 2)

Configuration Task Application Manual / Chapter / Section


Alert Settings

Alert SettingsThe Alert Settings dialog box contains tabs for setting Event Management alert settings. The tabs of the Alert Settings dialog box correspond to the alert settings provided by the PATROL Knowledge Module for Event Management.

Normally, you work with one tab at a time when you create alert settings. Each tab is a separate alert setting for the selected agent.

To Access Alert Settings Dialog Box

1 In the Agents tree view, right click an agent.

2 Choose Event Management => Alert Settings.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Alert Settings dialog box as shown in Figure 38.

Figure 38 Alert Settings Dialog Box


Adding Objects

Adding Objects

Use the Object Selection dialog box to choose the objects for the alert settings tab. The alert settings on each tab applies to the objects selected on the tab. You can choose any level of object from all computers (hosts) to a single parameter on an individual computer.

Before You Begin

Ensure that the lists of PATROL objects for the PATROL Agents are up-to-date. The list of objects used by PATROL Configuration Manager is static, not dynamic, and must be updated manually. For information about how to update the object lists, see “Updating PATROL Object Lists” on page 191.

To Select a PATROL Object

1 On the Alert Settings dialog box, click Add Objects.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Object Selection dialog box as shown in Figure 39.

Figure 39 Object Selection Dialog Box – Multiple Hosts


Adding Objects


If you want to apply this settings specified in the current tab to computers besides the current one, choose Show All Hosts. PATROL Configuration Manager lists all the agents registered with the configuration manager and displayed in the Agent tree view.


■ Get Object from Agent—the configuration manager retrieves the application classes, instances and parameters from the PATROL Agent runtime namespace rather than the static files created at installation; the information displayed represent a snapshot of objects available at that point in time; if you choose this option, Show All Hosts and Hosts are inactive

3 In Hosts, choose the computers to which you want to apply settings.

■ To choose the agent on the computer on which you launched the Alert Setting menu command, select root (/).

■ To select agents on multiple computers, press Ctrl while clicking the individual computer names.

■ To select a range click on the first agent in the range, move your cursor to the last agent in the range, and press Shift while clicking on the last agent.

4 (Optional) In Application Classes, choose the application class for whose parameter you want to set thresholds.

5 (Optional) In Instances, choose an instance. If you want to apply threshold settings to parameters of all instances, choose __ANYINST__.

6 (Optional) In Parameters, choose the parameter whose thresholds you want to set.

7 Click Add.




Removing Objects

8 Click Close.

PATROL Configuration Manager closes the dialog box and displays the PATROL Object in the Selected Objects List.

Removing Objects

Use the Remove Objects feature to removes selected objects displayed in the alert setting dialog box so that the settings are not applied.

To Remove an Object

1 In Selected Objects List, choose an object. To choose more than one object, press Ctrl and click on the individual objects one at a time. To select a range, press Shift and click on the first object in the range and then the last object in the range.

PATROL Configuration Manager highlights the object(s).

2 Click Remove Objects.

PATROL Configuration Manager removes the highlighted object(s) from Selected Objects List.

Setting Override Periods

Specify periods during which you want a different alert setting, defined by a rule, to be applied and thus alternate behavior to occur for the selected objects. The alert settings are not used during the Override Periods. Instead, PATROL KM for Event Management enacts the behavior defined during the Override Period and stored in an override rule. Override Periods apply to all objects in the Selected Objects List.

To Select Periods During Which Alert Settings Are Not Active

1 In Selected Objects List, choose an object. To select more than one object, press Ctrl and click on the individual objects one at a time. To select a range, press Shift and click on the first and last object in the range.

PATROL Configuration Manager highlights the object(s).

2 Choose Override.

PATROL Configuration Manager activates Show Override Periods.


Setting Override Periods

3 Click Show Override Periods.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Override Settings dialog box as shown in Figure 40.

Figure 40 Override Settings Dialog Box

4 Set the override period. The override properties are described in Table 40.

.

Table 40 Override Settings Properties (part 1 of 2)

Field Description

Current Overrides Override periods that have already been applied

Change Selected Makes the override periods selected in the Current Overrides field available for editing

Delete Selected Removes the override periods selected in the Current Overrides field

Start Time The hour, minute, and second on which the override period begins

End Time The hour, minute, and second on which the override period ends


Alert Management

5 Click Add.

The dialog box displays the period in Current Overrides.

6 Click Close.

Alert ManagementUsing PATROL Configuration Manager, you can instruct PATROL KM for Event Management to run recover actions and issue notifications when a PATROL object changes to a specific alert status. The aspects of alerts that you can control include

■ issuing notifications■ running recovery actions■ resending alerts■ assigning text descriptions to PATROL objects■ turning monitoring on or off

Override Days The days of the week on which the override occurs

Merge or Replace Designate the relationship between the new override period and any existing override periods

■ Merge Selected Override Periods with Pre-Existing Settings—combines the current override period with any existing overrides periods listed in the Current Overrides field

■ Replace Existing Override Periods with Current Selection—deletes any existing override periods listed in the Current Overrides field and applies the current ones

Table 40 Override Settings Properties (part 2 of 2)

Field Description


Setting Up Notification for PATROL Objects in Alert

Setting Up Notification for PATROL Objects in Alert

Use the Alert Settings dialog box–Alert Action tab to enable notification and recovery actions for selected PATROL objects.

To Set Up Notifications and Enable Recovery Actions

1 Access the Alert Settings - Alert Action tab.

A In the Agent tree view, right-click on an agent for which you want to set up notifications such as emails or pages.

B Choose Event Management => Alert Settings.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Alert Settings - Alert Action tab dialog box as shown in Figure 41.

Figure 41 Alert Settings Dialog Box–Alert Action Tab

2 Choose the PATROL objects for which you want to set up recovery actions and send notifications by “Adding Objects” on page 196.


Determining How Many Times Alerts Are Resent

3 Set up override period by “Setting Override Periods” on page 198.

4 Specify the alert status for the PATROL objects and allow PATROL KM for Event Management to run recovery actions and send notifications when the object alerts. The Alert Action settings are described in Table 41.

5 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the Alert Action settings and closes the dialog box.


Use the Alert Settings dialog box–Alert Resend tab to define the number of times the agent resends an active alert when it remains in a warning or alarm state for consecutive polling periods. Alerts are resent at the interval specified by the PATROL KM for Event Management ResendAlertQueue parameter polling time (10 minute default setting), and the alerts contain the current alert information (parameter value, status, and so on). You can configure alarm and warning alerts to have different resend values, and you can configure them at the following PATROL object levels: application, instance, or parameter.

To resend outstanding alerts for the selected objects as long as the alert is active, set the Alert resend to -1.

This setting is stored in the rule alertResend.

Table 41 Alert Action Properties

Field Description

Select Action Type select the object status for the alert settings

The following options are supported:■ ANY_STATUS■ INFORMATION■ WARNING■ ALARM

Allow Recovery Actions specifies if the PATROL KM for Event Management recovery actions are enabled for the selected objects

Trigger NOTIFY_EVENT (Perform Notification)

specifies if the PATROL KM for Event Management performs notification for the selected objects and status



To Specify How Many Times Alerts Are Resent

1 Access the Alert Settings - Alert Resend tab.



C Click on the Alert Resend tab.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Alert Settings - Alert Resend tab dialog box as shown in Figure 42.

Figure 42 Alert Settings Dialog Box – Alert Resend Tab

2 Choose the PATROL objects for which you want to specify how many times an alert is resent by “Adding Objects” on page 196.


4 Specify resend values for both ALARM and WARNING alerts. The Alert Resend settings are described in Table 42.


Suppressing Alerts upon Agent Restart to Avoid False Alerts

5 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the Alert Resend settings and closes the dialog box.


Use the Alert Settings dialog box– Send Reset On Init tab to specify if the PATROL Agent sends reset alerts when the agent is restarted. Reset alerts are sent for each alert condition (for example, alarm or warning) that existed when the agent was shutdown.

The settings for this option are managed by the Send Reset On Init tab and stored in the rule alertResetOnInit.

This rule does not apply to particular objects, and is not activated by default.

Why False Alerts Occur upon an Agent Restart

When an agent or the computer on which an agent is running goes down, outstanding events that have not yet been processed by the enterprise console can remain open. These events are considered false alerts because after the agent or the agent computer restarts, these events are no longer relevant. You can configure PATROL to determine which events are no longer relevant and close those events upon an agent restart.

Table 42 Alert Resend Properties

Field Description

ALARM Resends specify the number of times you want PATROL KM for Event Management to resend alerts for alarm conditions

Valid values are

-1 resend outstanding alerts for the selected objects as long as the alert is active

0 send only the original alert. No additional alerts are sent after the initial alert.

1-# send outstanding alerts as many times as indicated by this value as long as the alert is active

WARN Resends specify the number of times you want PATROL KM for Event Management to resend alerts for WARN conditions; values are the same as ALARM Resends



To Revert to the Alert Status in Effect before Agent Restart

1 Access the Alert Settings - Send Reset On Init tab.



C Click on the Send Reset On Init tab.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Alert Settings - Send Reset On Init tab dialog box as shown in Figure 43.

Figure 43 Alert Settings Dialog Box – Send Reset On Init Tab

2 Select Send reset notifications when agent restarts.

3 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the Send Reset On Init settings and closes the dialog box.


Assigning Custom Identifiers to PATROL Objects


Use the Alert Settings dialog box–Custom Identifiers tab to assign custom identifiers to PATROL objects. The custom identifiers are text strings. They can be used to associate internally affected applications with PATROL.

To Specify Custom Identifiers

1 Access the Alert Settings - Custom Identifier tab.

A In the Agent tree view, right-click the agent for which you want to set up notifications such as emails or pages.


C Click on the Custom Identifier tab.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Alert Settings - Custom Identifier tab dialog box as shown in Figure 44.

EXAMPLE To help the IT staff of a large online retailer identify which objects serviced which business application, they add a custom identifier that indicated which application the object belongs to, such online_catalog, shopping_cart, or online_transaction.



Figure 44 Alert Settings Dialog Box – Custom Identifiers Tab

2 Choose the PATROL objects for which you want to define custom identifiers by “Adding Objects” on page 196.

3 Set custom identifiers for the selected objects. The Custom Identifier settings are described in Table 43.

4 Click OK.

Table 43 Custom Identifier Properties

Field Description

Set Custom Identifier 1 specifies that you are setting customer identifier 1

Enter Custom Identifier 1 the value of custom identifier 1

The identifier cannot contain a comma.

Set Custom Identifier 2 specifies that you are setting customer identifier 2

Enter Custom Identifier 2 the value of custom identifier 2

The identifier cannot contain a comma.


Turning Monitoring On and Off at the Application Class Level

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the Custom Identifier settings and closes the dialog box.

Turning Monitoring On and Off at the Application Class Level

Use the Alert Settings dialog box–Class Active State tab to set the active state of selected application classes. When an object is inactive\deactive, PATROL does not collect data for it.

The Class Active State settings apply only to application classes.

To Activate or Deactivate PATROL Objects

1 Access the Alert Settings - Class Active State tab.



C Click on the Class Active State tab.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Alert Settings - Class Active State tab dialog box as shown in Figure 45.

Figure 45 Alert Settings Dialog Box – Class Active State Tab


Recovery Action Setup

2 Choose the PATROL objects to activate or deactivate by “Adding Objects” on page 196.

3 Set Class Active State for the selected objects. The Class Active State settings are described in Table 44.

4 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the Class Active State settings and closes the dialog box.

Recovery Action SetupThis section describes how to configure PATROL KM for Event Management recovery actions. These recovery actions are executed at the agent and are associated with a PATROL object status change.

Enabling Recovery Actions

Before using PATROL Configuration Manager to configure PATROL KM for Event Management to execute a recovery action for a PATROL object, verify that the recovery action is enabled for that object.

To execute recovery actions, the PATROL KM for Event Management rule arsAction must be set to 2, 4, 6.

For more information about arsAction, see “arsAction” in Chapter 5, “Rules and Configuration Variables” in PATROL Knowledge Module for Event Management User Guide.

Table 44 Class Active State Properties

Field Description

Disabled disables the application class and neither monitors nor collects data for the applications and instances defined by it

Pre Discovery set the application class to pre-discovery mode, which causes PATROL to test if the object exists before attempting to run a full discovery

Full Discovery set the application class in full discovery mode, which at periodic intervals causes PATROL to locate objects and collect data based on application class definitions


Scope of Commands and Types

Scope of Commands and Types

Recovery action command types and recovery action commands can be set at the same object level. If most of your recovery actions are the same type, you can set the value of the command type for the majority of recovery actions at the host level (for the entire computer). For recovery actions of a type different than the majority, you can set both the command and the type at the applicable object or instance level.

Defining Recovery Action Command Type

Use the Alert Settings dialog box–Recovery Action Command Type tab to specify the command type (PSL and OS) to use when executing the recovery action command. The AS_CHANGESPRING application class contains a sample PATROL command type.

To execute a recovery action, you must specify a command type. You can specify the command type for all PATROL objects or for any individual PATROL application, instance, or parameter. If all of your recovery actions are of one type, you should specify that command type for all PATROL objects.

The command type is stored in the rule, arsCmdType.

Command Types

PATROL KM for Event Management supports PATROL Script Language commands, operating system command and shell scripts based upon those commands, and customer scripts. However, if you want to use custom scripts, they must be defined in the application class for which they will run. PATROL KM for Event Management supports the following command types without any customization.

PSL—PATROL Script Language functions or scripts comprising PSL functionsOS—operating system commands or shell scripts using operating system commands

To Specify Recovery Action Command Type

1 Access the Alert Settings - Recovery Action Command Type tab.



C Click on the Recovery Action Command tab.


Defining Recovery Action Command Type

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Alert Settings - Recovery Action Command Type tab dialog box as shown in Figure 46.

Figure 46 Alert Settings Dialog Box – Recovery Action Command Type Tab

2 Choose the PATROL objects for which you want to define the recovery action command type by “Adding Objects” on page 196.


4 Choose the Alert status for which you want to specify the recovery action command type. The Recovery Action Command Type settings are described in Table 45.


Defining Recovery Actions

5 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the Recovery Action Command Type settings and closes the dialog box.


Use the Alert Settings dialog box–Recovery Action Commands tab to specify a script or program that performs recovery procedures pertaining to the selected PATROL objects with an Alert status. The PATROL KM for Event Management contains a sample recovery action script, AS_EVS_RA_CMD_GENERIC.pl, located in the PATROL PSL directory.

Command Types

Recovery actions can be written in PSL, OS, or custom commands. Based upon the programming language and command type, you must reference the recovery action program or script in certain ways. To designate the command type, see “Defining Recovery Action Command Type” on page 210.

Table 45 Recovery Action Command Type Properties

Field Description

Select Status select the status of objects that require the recovery action command

The following status types are supported:

■ ANY_STATUS■ WARNING■ ALARM

Enter Recovery Action Command

enter the command type of the recovery action command

The command type must be defined for objects selected for the recovery action.

Use PSL for PSL commands.

NOTE For PATROL to execute the recovery actions, Allow Recovery Actions check box must be selected on the Alert Action tab.



PSL

■ If you are specifying a PSL script file, enter the absolute path to the file on the agent.

■ If you are entering the PSL text, click Edit to enter a multi-line PSL script.

Operating System

■ The command must be in the path, or you must specify the absolute path to the command. You can use environment variables.

Custom

■ You must specify the absolute path for the recovery command when you are specifying a custom command type.

Before You Begin

Before specifying a recovery action script, you should have completed the following tasks:

■ Enable Alert Actions to perform recovery action commands. See “Setting Up Notification for PATROL Objects in Alert” on page 201.

■ Specify the recovery action command type rule arsCmdType. See “Defining Recovery Action Command Type” on page 210.

■ Create and test a recovery action script. See “Using Notification Scripts” and “Testing Notification Scripts” in Chapter 3, “Using PATROL KM for Event Management,” in PATROL Knowledge Module for Event Management User Guide.

To Specify Recovery Action Scripts or Programs

1 Access the Alert Settings - Recovery Action Commands tab.



C Click on the Recovery Action Command tab.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Alert Settings - Recovery Action Commands tab dialog box as shown in Figure 47.



Figure 47 Alert Settings Dialog Box – Recovery Action Commands Tab

2 Choose the PATROL objects for which you want to define recovery actions by “Adding Objects” on page 196.


4 Choose the Alert status for which you want the recovery action to run and define the recovery action. The Recovery Action Command settings are described in Table 46.



5 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the Recovery Action Commands settings and closes the dialog box.

Table 46 Recovery Action Command Properties

Field Description

Select Status select the status of objects that require the recovery action command

The following status types are supported:

■ ANY_STATUS■ WARNING■ ALARM

Enter Recovery Action Command

enter the text of the recovery action command

PSL Commands

If you are specifying a PSL script file, enter the absolute path to the file on the agent.

If you are entering the PSL text, click Edit to enter a multi-line PSL script.

Operating System Command

The command must be in the path, or you must specify the absolute path to the command. You can use environment variables.

You must specify the absolute path for the recovery command when you are specifying a custom command type.

Ensure you set the following values if you are using recovery actions:

■ Enable Alert Actions to perform recovery action commands. See “Setting Up Notification for PATROL Objects in Alert” on page 201.

■ Set the command type. See “Defining Recovery Action Command Type” on page 210.


Notification Configuration and Management

Notification Configuration and ManagementPATROL Configuration Manager enables you to establish and manage notification issued by PATROL KM for Event Management. Using the configuration manager, you can control

■ who receives notifications (notification targets)■ when and why or under what conditions a notification is issued■ how they receive notification: email, page, or other (notification commands)■ what system information the notification messages provide (reword notification

messages)■ where the notifications messages are managed and sent from■ when notifications should not be sent

Designating Who Receives Notifications

Use the Alert Settings dialog box – Notification Targets tab to define the notification targets for selected objects. You should set up specific targets to ensure that the proper people are notified when alerts occur.

To Designate Notification Targets

1 Access the Alert Settings - Notification Targets tab.



C Click on the Notification Targets tab.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Alert Settings - Notification Targets tab dialog box as shown in Figure 48.


Designating Who Receives Notifications

Figure 48 Alert Settings Dialog Box – Notification Targets Tab

2 Choose the PATROL objects for which you want to set up a notification targets by “Adding Objects” on page 196.


4 Designate who will receive the notification, what type of notifications they will receive, what type of alert will cause the notification. The Notification Targets settings are described in Table 47.


Designating Type of Notification Sent

5 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the Notification Targets settings and closes the dialog box.


The PATROL KM for Event Management provides sample notification scripts that call command-line utilities to initiate notification (such as e-mail and page). The Notification Command tab of PATROL Configuration Manager allows you to associate various types of notification such as email or page with specific PATROL objects.

Table 47 Notification Targets Properties

Setting Description

Notification Type select the notification type from the following values:

■ Email■ Pager■ Custom■ Trouble Ticket

Ensure that your notification server is configured to perform the selected Notification Type. For example, if you want to send pages, the paging software must be installed and configured.

Target Notification Types select the target notification types for the selected objects

The following local and remote notification types are supported:

■ ANY_STATUS■ INFORMATION■ WARNING■ ALARM■ ESCALATED

You can select more than one value by holding CTRL and clicking multiple selections in the Target Notification Type(s) list.

Enter Targets specify the notification targets for the selected objects and notification types

Multiple targets are separated by commas.



Scripts

For more information about the scripts, their locations, any requirements for using them, and any edits or customizations required, see “Configuration Tasks” in Chapter 3, “Using the PATROL KM for Event Management,” of PATROL Knowledge Module for Event Management User Guide.

The PATROL KM for Event management contains sample notification scripts located in the PATROL PSL directory. The notification command is typically set at the root (/) object level so that it applies to all PATROL objects, for example, application classes, instances, and parameters with an ALERT status.

Before You Begin

■ You must have edited the platform-specific sample scripts provided with PATROL KM for Event Management.

■ If you are going to notify individuals by pages, you must install and configure that software.

To Designate in the Notification Command Tab the Type of Notification Sent

1 Access the Alert Settings - Notification Command Tab.



C Click on the Notification Command tab.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Alert Settings - Notification Command tab dialog box as shown in Figure 49.

EXAMPLE A system administrator (SA) sets up pager notifications for all CPU-related PATROL objects because they are mission critical. The SA sets up email notification for all printer-related PATROL objects because printing is not a mission critical aspect of the business.



Figure 49 Alert Settings Dialog Box – Notification Command Tab

2 Choose the PATROL object to which you want to associate a notification script. If you want to use the same script for all PATROL objects, select the root (/).

3 Specify a script or program to issue notification by email, paging, or other communication method. The notification command properties are in Table 48.


Determining from Where Notifications Are Sent and Managed

4 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the notification command settings and closes the dialog box.


Use the Alert Settings dialog box–Notification System tab to specify from where or if at all notification is performed for the selected PATROL objects.

You can set up notifications to be sent from

■ the local machine on which the alerts occur■ a notification server

or not send them at all. This setting is stored in the rule alertSystem and can be specific for each PATROL object.

Table 48 Notification Command Properties

Field Description

Enter Notification Command

the path and file to execute for local notification

The command must be in the path or you must specify the full path of the notification command on the agent.

Call command using Event Management environment variables only

defines if the command is called with command-line arguments

Environmental variables are always available.

When you call a shell script or a batch program you can pass command-line arguments. However, most operating systems have command size limitations or there are special characters that cause the command to fail.

If you are using blat to send e-mail, and you want to send the e-mail to multiple targets, you must use command-line arguments.

EXAMPLE You can set up notifications to be sent locally for one parameter. For a second parameter, you could setup events to be forwarded to a notification server that sends the notification. For a third parameter, you could choose to not set up any notification.



Types of Notification System

Notification targets (for example, who is paged or e-mailed) must be maintained for each computer.

Local

Notification is performed by the PATROL Agent that is doing the monitoring.

Using the Local option, notification failures have no impact on other systems. Local notification is potentially more reliable since it requires fewer intermediate components (for example, the network connection, the remote notification server).

Some disadvantages to using the Local option are

■ Notification scripts and procedures are required on each computer.■ Most systems are unable to perform paging locally.

Remote

Send alerts to a notification server. You can specify a primary and a backup notification server. If the primary notification server is unavailable, fail-over to the backup notification server is automatically performed.

Using Remote, allows for centralized notification and simplifies maintenance of notification settings and procedures. A disadvantage is that the failure of a notification server affects many systems.

Local and Remote

PATROL Configuration Manager performs both local and remote notification.

None

PATROL Configuration Manager does not send for the selected PATROL objects.

NOTE You should only select a specific host when you are creating a rule for a notification server.



Deciding Which Notification System to Use

For information about which notification system you should use to send notifications, see “Deciding Where to Place Notification Rules” in Chapter 3, “Using PATROL KM for Event Management,”in PATROL Knowledge Module for Event Management User Guide.

To Determine What Computer Manages and Sends Notifications

1 Access the Alert Settings - Notification System tab.



C Click on the Notification System tab.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Alert Settings - Notification System tab dialog box as shown in Figure 50.



Figure 50 Alert Settings Dialog Box – Notification System Tab

2 Choose the PATROL objects for which you want to set up a notification system by “Adding Objects” on page 196.


4 Specify the Alert status and notification system from where the notifications are managed and sent. The Notification System settings are described in Table 49.


Rewording Notification Messages

5 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the Notification System settings and closes the dialog box.


Use the Alert Settings dialog box–Alert Messages tab to reword alert messages and their subject lines PATROL objects. You can either reword the default message that is used for all notification messages or build your own custom, alert message for a specific object to be issued by E-mail, pages, trouble tickets, or other custom notification system.

Where to Reword Notification Messages

You can reword messages at the notification server or at the remote agent. However, BMC Software recommends that you reword messages at the remote agent because this practice reduces the number of rules on the notification server and makes it easier to properly send messages to an enterprise console.

For more information, see “Deciding Where to Place Notification Rules” in Chapter 3, “Using PATROL KM for Event Management,”in PATROL Knowledge Module for Event Management User Guide.

Table 49 Notification System Properties

Setting Description

Select Action Type select the object status for the alert settings

The following options are supported:■ ANY_STATUS■ INFORMATION■ WARNING■ ALARM

LOCAL local notification is performed for the selected objects

REMOTE remote notification is performed for the selected objects

LOCAL, REMOTE both LOCAL and REMOTE notification

NONE notification is not performed for the selected PATROL objects



Including Subject Line Only

If you want the notification message to include only a subject line and no message body, you must edit the notification script and change the value of the Send_Body variable to 0. By default, it is set to 1, which indicates that the message body is included in the notification message.

For information about editing notification scripts, see “Using Notification Scripts” and “Testing Notification Scripts” in Chapter 3, “Using PATROL KM for Event Management,”in PATROL Knowledge Module for Event Management User Guide.

Message Length Limitations

When you reword messages, verify that the message length is within the limitations noted in Table 50.

Custom, Dynamic Messages

Customized messages are built out of a combination of regular text and Alert Message variables. During message creation, PATROL replaces the variables with the actual values from the PATROL object that are associated with the selected state. PATROL Configuration Manager provides a list of message variable text at the bottom of the Alert Settings dialog box–Alert Messages tab.

This feature allows you to provide precise, detailed notifications that inform the recipient of the exact system status.

Table 50 Notification Subject Line and Message Length Limits by Platform

Platform Subject Length Limit Message Length Limit Action If Limit is Exceeded

UNIX 100 characters No known limit The message is truncated.

Windows No known limit 2035 characters The message is truncated.

AS/400 (using native SNDDST mail utility)

44 characters 5000 characters The message is truncated.

OpenVMS 80 characters 255 characters The message is not sent.



To Reword Messages Sent When an Alert Occurs

1 Access the Alert Settings - Alert Messages tab.



C Click on the Alert Messages tab.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Alert Settings - Alert Messages tab dialog box as shown in Figure 51.

Figure 51 Alert Settings Dialog Box – Alert Messages Tab

2 Choose the PATROL objects whose Alert Messages you want to reword by “Adding Objects” on page 196.


4 Specify the Alert status and construct a new message for the specified Alert status. The Alert Messages settings are described in Table 51.


Message Variables

For information about how to construct a message using Alert Message variables and some sample messages, see “Message Variables” on page 228.

5 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the Alert Messages settings and closes the dialog box.

Message Variables

Table 52 describes the message variables available for creating custom alert messages. Blend them with text to create an easily comprehensible, very detailed notification.

Table 51 Alert Message Properties

Field Description

Select message type(s) to reword

select the message type that you want to reword for the selected objects

The following message types are supported:

■ ANY_STATUS■ INFORMATION■ WARNING■ ALARM

Enter Custom Message Text specify your new message text using a combination of regular text and variables

The variables are replaced with the actual values from the associated object that is in the selected state.

Message Variables The message variable text shown in the bottom of the dialog box is for you to use as a reference when you create your message. The text in the bottom pane is read only and has nothing to do with your new message. However, you can copy variables from the bottom and paste them in the Enter Custom Message Text field to use in your message.

Table 52 Alert Message Variables

Variable Description

%HOSTNAME% hostname of the PATROL Agent

%IPADDRESS% IP Address of the PATROL Agent

%TCP_PORT% TCP listening port on the PATROL Agent

%UDP_PORT% UDP listening port on the PATROL Agent

%APPCLASS% application class name


Message Variables

%APPINSTANCE% application instance name

%ICON_NAME% instance icon name

%PARENT_INSTANCE% parent instance name

%PARAMETER_NAME% parameter name

%PARAMETER_STATUS% parameter status (ALARM,WARN,OK)

%PARAMETER_VALUE% parameter value

%DATE% date of alert (MM/DD/YYYY)

%TIME% time of alert (HH:MM:SS)

%TIMEZONE% time zone on affected system

%LAST10% the last 10 parameter values

%LAST10% returns up to the last 10 data points (There may not be 10 data points available).

%AVE10% the average of last 10 parameter values

%LAST10TS% the last 10 parameter timestamps

The %LAST10TS% values correspond to %LAST10% parameter values and represent the time the parameter value was set.

The %LAST10TS% values are in seconds since 00:00:00 GMT, Jan 01, 1970.

%LAST10TP% the overall time period, in minutes, of the %LAST10%

The %LAST10TP% is the difference, in minutes, between the first and last %LAST10TS% values.

%EVENT_ID% the PATROL Event Manager event ID for the alert

%USERDEFINED% the value of variable /_my_%APPCLASS%_%APPINSTANCE%_%PARAMETER_NAME%

%EVENT_TYPE% the PATROL Event Manager event type for the alert

%EVENT_STATUS% the PATROL Event Manager event status for the alert

%OS_TYPE% the operating system type

%ALARM_MIN% the lower threshold of the current alarm range

%ALARM_MAX% the upper threshold of the current alarm range

%CUSTOM_ID1% the custom identifier assigned to object

See “Assigning Custom Identifiers to PATROL Objects” on page 206.

%CUSTOM_ID2% the custom identifier assigned to object

See “Assigning Custom Identifiers to PATROL Objects” on page 206.




Disabling Notification

Sample Message

The following combination of variables and text in the Enter Custom Message Text field

yields the following message, which is sent as an email, page, or other notification.


You can disable notification in either PATROL KM for Event Management or PATROL Configuration Manager. The advantage of PATROL KM for Event Management lies in that it supports disabling notifications with menu commands and dialog boxes, which provide ease of use and error checking. The advantage of PATROL Configuration Manager lies in its ability to distribute the rule changes quickly and uniformly throughout the enterprise. The most efficient method of disabling notifications involves using both products and thus taking advantage of both products strengths.

Variables Available with the PATROL KM for Event Management 2.4.05.02 and Later

%AGENT_VERSION% the PATROL Agent version

%EVENT_CATALOG% the event catalog name of originating event

%EVENT_CLASS% the event class name of originating event

%EVENT_STATUS% the event status of originating event

%EVENT_SEVERITY% the event severity of originating event

%EVENT_TYPE% the event type of originating event

Variables Only Available from a Notification Server

%NOTIFY_EVENT_ID% the PATROL Event Manager event id for the NOTIFY_EVENT

%NOTIFY_EVENT_TYPE% the PATROL Event Manager event type of the NOTIFY_EVENT

%NOTIFY_EVENT_STATUS% the PATROL Event Manager event status of the NOTIFY_EVENT

The Oracle server %APPINSTANCE% on %HOSTNAME% is consuming %PARAMETER_VALUE%% CPU (Ave CPU=%AVE10%%)

The Oracle server PROD1 on glamis is consuming 99.55% CPU (Ave CPU=76.54%)





Using PATROL KM for Event Management

If you use the PATROL KM for Event Management to make these changes, you can make the change on one agent and then deploy the changes to all of your agents using the PATROL Configuration Manager.

For more information about disabling notifications using PATROL KM for Event Management, see “Disabling Notification” in Chapter 3, “Using the PATROL KM for Event Management, “of PATROL Knowledge Module for Event Management User Guide.

Using PATROL Configuration Manager

Performing the following tasks in PATROL Configuration Manager involve editing rules. For information about how to edit rules, see “Creating, Editing, and Managing Rules” on page 125.

To Disable Notification for Specific PATROL Objects

To disable notification for certain PATROL objects, such as an application class, set the arsAction rule to 0 only for that application class.

To Disable Notification at the Notification Server

To disable notification at the notification server, you can set the alertSystem rule to NONE and then set it to LOCAL for those parameters for which you want to receive notifications.

To Limit Notifications by Adjusting Parameter Settings

If you are receiving too many notifications, review your emails (or pages) and begin adjusting the parameter settings so that the alerts that are not desired stop coming.

You can accomplish this by performing one of the following tasks:

■ adjusting the thresholds■ deactivating threshold ranges■ deactivating parameters

EXAMPLE To disable notification for all parameters in the NT_CPU application class, use the following rule on the remote agent generating events: /AS/EVENTSPRING/NT_CPU/arsAction =0.


Stopping Notification For Specific Periods (Notification Blackouts)

To Override Rules

You can also limit notification by overriding a rule.


Use the Alert Settings dialog box–Notification Blackouts tab to specify periods when you do not want notification to be performed.

About Blackout Periods

Blackout periods are set to prevent notification from taking place during a specified time period even if an alert condition occurs. Multiple blackout times per day can be established as well as blackouts that span multiple days.

Types of Blackout Periods

Blackout periods apply to notification, and they can be applied to most PATROL objects. Blackout periods can be defined locally at the system where the alert occurs and at the notification server. Table 53 lists the types and describes their behavior.

EXAMPLE If you do not want a remote agent to generate notify events, you can disable the arsAction rule on that remote agent.

Table 53 Types of Notification Blackouts

Type of Blackout Description

Local If a blackout is defined locally, and the notification system is a remote notification server, alerts are not forwarded from the originating managed system to the remote notification server during a defined blackout period.

Notification Server If the blackout period is defined at the notification server, alerts are forwarded to the notification server during defined blackout periods, but the notification server does not perform notification even though an alert is received. It is blacked out by the notification server.



To Set Notification Blackout Periods

1 Access the Alert Settings - Notification Blackout tab.



C Click on the Notification Blackout tab.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Alert Settings - Notification Blackout tab dialog box as shown in Figure 52.

Figure 52 Alert Settings Dialog Box – Notification Blackouts Tab

The Notification Blackout settings are described in Table 54.



2 Choose the PATROL objects for which you want to set up a notification blackout by “Adding Objects” on page 196.

3 Click Add Periods.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays Period dialog box as shown in Figure 53.

Figure 53 Blackout Period Selection Dialog Box

4 Specify the period of time for which notification will not be sent when a selected PATROL object goes into an alert. The Notification Blackout settings are described in Table 55.

Table 54 Notification Blackout Properties

Setting Description

Selected Blackout Periods the Selected Blackout Periods list shows the periods when notification is not performed for the objects in the Selected Objects list

Add Periods click Add Periods to add blackout periods to the Selected Blackout Periods list

Remove Periods select a blackout period in the Selected Blackout Periods list and click Remove Periods to remove the blackout period form the Selected Blackout Periods list

Table 55 Blackout Period Selection Properties

Field Description

Start Time the time (expressed in hours, minutes, and seconds) at which the blackout period begins

End Time the time (expressed in hours, minutes, and seconds) at which the blackout period ends

Blackout Days the days on which the blackout period occurs; blackouts are schedule to reoccur on a weekly basis


Notification Tests

5 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the Notification Blackout settings and closes the dialog box.

Notification TestsPATROL Configuration Manager allows you to test the notifications that you have established without actually having to apply them to an agent. The What If feature simulates a PATROL installation and reports on the success or failure of the notifications as you have defined them within PATROL Configuration Manager.

RuleSet Used for Testing

What If tests are performed by PATROL Configuration Manager using the most recent agent backup configuration in the agent’s backup folder. If the backup folder of the selected agent or the target notification server contains a whatif RuleSet (whatif.cfg), the whatif RuleSet is used for the simulation. Figure 54 shows a whatif rule in the agent backup folder.

EXAMPLE To set a blackout from Friday at 19:00 pm until Sunday at 9:00 requires you to create three blackout periods within PATROL Configuration Manager and merge them as you create each one:

1st PeriodBlackout Start Time -->19:00:00Blackout Stop Time --> 23:59:59Blackout Days-->Fri

2nd PeriodBlackout Start Time -->00:00:00Blackout Stop Time --> 23:59:59Blackout Days-->Sat

3rd PeriodBlackout Start Time -->00:00:00Blackout Stop Time --> 09:00:00Blackout Days-->Sun


Limitations

Figure 54 What If RuleSet

Limitations

You can only test the notification properties of one parameter at a time.

Testing Notifications

Use the What If? feature to test or simulate PATROL KM for Event Management configurations as they pertain to notification rules. The test determines which rules are triggered when a parameter enters a specified state, such as ALARM or WARN. With the test results, you can determine if you have configured the notification rules correctly.

Before You Begin

■ Before using the What If feature to test your notification rules, configure the agent as desired. Then perform a get on the agent to obtain the latest configuration and store it in backup folder.

■ You must save all agents that you have added. If you add a new agent and attempt to perform What If before saving the agent, PATROL Configuration Manager prompts you to save the agent. If you do not, the What If feature will not test notification set up for any new agents whose configuration has not been saved.

To Simulate Sending Notifications

1 In the Agent tree view, right-click an agent for which you want to test notifications such as emails or pages.

2 Choose Event Management => What If.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the What If dialog box as shown Figure 55.

What If RuleSet



Figure 55 What If Dialog Box

3 Choose the parameter by clicking Browse and using the Object Selection dialog box. For instructions on how to choose an object by “Adding Objects” on page 196.

4 Specify an Alert status and the time at which you want the test to be performed for the selected parameter. The What If settings are described in Table 56.

5 Click OK.

PATROL Configuration Manager performs the What If simulation and returns the results in the WhatIf Results dialog box–Results tab as shown Figure 56.

Table 56 What If Properties

Field Description

Parameter specify a parameter to use for the What If simulation

Click Browse to access the Object Selection dialog box.

Status choose the parameter status that you want to test with for the What If simulation.

Day choose day on which you want to run the test

The value defaults to the current day.

Time choose the time that you want the test to simulate. This option is used for testing blackout periods

The value defaults to the time at which the What If menu command is selected.



Figure 56 What If Results Dialog Box – Results Tab

6 In the Results tab, view the execution of the rules. The Results tab displays each rule executed during the simulation in the order it was executed.

7 To view the results in an online report, choose Report tab.

The What If dialog box–Report tab shows a text version of the What If report as shown Figure 57.



Figure 57 What If Results Dialog Box – Report Tab

To Save WhatIf Results in a Report

1 After completing step 1 through step 6 on page 238, click Save Report.

PATROL Configuration Manager displays the Save dialog box.

2 Navigate to the location where you want to save the file and type in the name.

3 Click Save.

PATROL Configuration Manager saves the report to the file and displays the report in the Report Viewer.

4 When you are done viewing the results online, click Close.

5 Click OK to exit the search dialog box.


C h a p t e r 8
8 Move PATROL Information into PATROL Configuration Manager
This chapter describes how to convert and import information that has traditionally been stored and managed on the PATROL Agent and PATROL Console into the PATROL Configuration Manager. Transferring this information requires the use of the AS_CHANGESPRING Knowledge Module. The following topics are discussed:

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242AS_CHANGESPRING KM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Features and Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242Loading the AS_CHANGESPRING KM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243Accessing the KM Commands and InfoBoxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Retrieve, Convert, and Import Information from the PATROL Agent and KMs. . . 245KM Migration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246Naming Convention of RuleSets Created by AS_CHANGESPRING KM . . . . . 246Location and File Name of RuleSets Created by AS_CHANGESPRING KM . . 246Make New RuleSets Available to PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . . . 247Getting All Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Getting Localized Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Getting Global Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249Getting Global Poll Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250Creating a Default RuleSet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251Updating the PATROL Object List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251Creating RuleSet from Comma-Separated Value Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253Converting Parameter Overrides to RuleSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254Turning Off Alarm Ranges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Import PATROL Console Configuration Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256Converting PATROL Console Desktop Settings to .ini Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257Importing the Converted Data into PATROL Configuration Manager . . . . . . . 258


Overview

OverviewPATROL Configuration Manager includes tools that help you get your PATROL environment into PATROL Configuration Manager. These tools help you turn PATROL Agent configuration information into PATROL Configuration Manager RuleSets and turn PATROL Console desktop configurations into PATROL Configuration Manager agent groups.

PATROL Configuration Manager includes the following tools for converting PATROL data into PATROL Configuration Manager information:

■ AS_CHANGESPRING KM■ PATROL Configuration Manager csmi Utility

AS_CHANGESPRING KMThe AS_CHANGESPRING KM helps you convert your PATROL configurations into PATROL KM for Event Management and PATROL Configuration Manager configurations.

Features and Limitations

The AS_CHANGESPRING KM has the following features and limitations:

■ provides menu commands and an InfoBox■ supported on Windows and UNIX■ works with the active PATROL Agent namespace■ does not provide international support

Requirements

To function properly, the AS_CHANGESPRING KM requires the PATROL Knowledge Module for Event Management to be installed and loaded on the PATROL Agent.

NOTE Since the AS_CHANGESPRING KM works with the active PATROL Agent namespace, the KMs that you use with the AS_CHANGESPRING KM must be loaded on the PATROL Agent and active.


Loading the AS_CHANGESPRING KM

Loading the AS_CHANGESPRING KM

Before you can begin using the AS_CHANGESPRING KM, you must first load the KM on the PATROL Developer Console. In this task, follow the instructions that apply to your console.

Before You Begin

Start the PATROL Console in Developer mode and connect to the PATROL Agent that you want to get configuration information from.

To Load KMs from the PATROL Console for Microsoft Windows

1 From the PATROL Console for Microsoft Windows menu bar, choose File => Load KM.

The Load KMs dialog box displays a list of available .kml files. Display .km files instead (equivalent to application classes) by selecting KM Files (*.km) from the drop-down list box.

2 Select the AS_CHANGESPRING.km file, and click Open.

PATROL loads the AS_CHANGESPRING.km on all of the computers listed under PATROLMainMap in the tree view.

To Load KMs from the PATROL Console for UNIX

1 From the PATROL Console for UNIX menu bar, choose File => Load KM.

The Load KMs dialog box displays a list of available .kml files. Display .km files instead (equivalent to application classes) by changing the filter.

NOTE The AS_CHANGESPRING.km is installed with PATROL Configuration Manager in the utils subdirectory of the installation directory. See “Installation” on page 19 for more information.

NOTE Do not commit the AS_CHANGESPRING.km to the connected agents. You only need to load the KM in the PATROL Developer Console to use the AS_CHANGESPRING.km.


Accessing the KM Commands and InfoBoxes

2 Select the AS_CHANGESPRING.km file, and click Open.

PATROL loads the AS_CHANGESPRING.km on all of the computers to which your console is connected.

Accessing the KM Commands and InfoBoxes

Table 57 provides information about how to access KM commands and InfoBoxes from the PATROL Consoles.

Figure 58 shows the AS_CHANGESPRING menu commands in the PATROL Console for Microsoft Windows.

NOTE The AS_CHANGESPRING.km is installed with PATROL Configuration Manager in the utils subdirectory of the installation directory. See “Installation” on page 19 for more information.

NOTE Do not commit the AS_CHANGESPRING.km to the connected agents. You only need to load the KM in the PATROL Developer Console to use the AS_CHANGESPRING.km.

Table 57 Accessing KM Commands and InfoBoxes

ConsoleTo access menu commands

To accessInfoBoxes

PATROL Console for Microsoft Windows

In either the Desktop tree tab or work area, right-click a computer or application icon and choose KM Commands from the pop-up menu.

In either the Desktop tree tab or the work area, right-click an application class or parameter icon and choose InfoBox from the pop-up menu.

PATROL Console for UNIX

In the work area, right-click a computer or application icon to display a pop-up menu that contains KM-specific commands.

With the middle mouse button, click an application class or parameter icon.


Retrieve, Convert, and Import Information from the PATROL Agent and KMs

Figure 58 AS_CHANGESPRING Menu Commands

Retrieve, Convert, and Import Information from the PATROL Agent and KMs

The AS_CHANGESPRING Knowledge Module converts PATROL Agent settings into PATROL Configuration Manager settings and RuleSets. With this knowledge module, you can perform following command task:

■ “Getting Localized Parameters” on page 247■ “Getting Global Parameters” on page 249■ “Getting Global Poll Times” on page 250■ “Creating a Default RuleSet” on page 251■ “Updating the PATROL Object List” on page 251■ “Creating RuleSet from Comma-Separated Value Files” on page 253■ “Converting Parameter Overrides to RuleSets” on page 254■ “Turning Off Alarm Ranges” on page 255


KM Migration

KM Migration

The AS_CHANGESPRING KM provides a means by which you can migrate customizations to KMs. Normally, when you migrate a KM, you must record the localized settings and reapply them to the new KMs. This KM identifies all the localized thresholds running on a PATROL Agent and creates a RuleSet equivalent to the thresholds. You can take this new RuleSet and apply it to a new KM to migrate your localized thresholds.

Once you have retrieved the thresholds and saved them as rules, you have the RuleSets to reuse with each new version of the KM.

Naming Convention of RuleSets Created by AS_CHANGESPRING KM

The configuration file has the following naming convention:

host_port_localizedParams.cfg

Location and File Name of RuleSets Created by AS_CHANGESPRING KM

When you create a RuleSet using the AS_CHANGESPRING KM features, the knowledge module writes the RuleSet to a configuration file. The PATROL Console System Output Window (SOW) displays the location and name of the RuleSet as shown in Figure 59.

Figure 59 RuleSet File Name Output


Make New RuleSets Available to PATROL Configuration Manager

Make New RuleSets Available to PATROL Configuration Manager

When you create a RuleSet using the AS_CHANGESPRING KM, it places the newly created RuleSet on the agent. For PATROL Configuration Manager to be able to access the RuleSet, it must reside in the RuleSets directory of PATROL Configuration Manager. After it is the RuleSets directory, the configuration manger can manage the RuleSet and apply it to other agents.

Getting All Parameters

The Get All Parameters command creates a RuleSet for all parameters, including collector parameters, running on a managed system. You can add these settings to the local RuleSet for the agent in PATROL Configuration Manager.

To Create a RuleSet with All Parameters

From the PATROL Console, access the KM Command menu for the AS_CHANGESPRING application instance and choose Get All Parameters => Create RuleSet.

PATROL creates a PATROL Configuration Manager RuleSet file that you can apply to many agents. The name and location of the RuleSet are printed to the system output window.

To Store in PATROL Configuration Database

You can also store the RuleSet information in the PATROL Agent configuration database on the selected agent instead of creating an external configuration file.

The advantage of creating the RuleSet in the PATROL configuration database on the agent is that you do not have to move files around. You can save it to the agent and then perform a Get on an agent and create a RuleSet from the backup folder without having to move a file from one computer to another.

Getting Localized Parameters

The Get Localized Parameters command creates a RuleSet for all localized parameters running on a managed system. You can add these localized settings to the local RuleSet for the agent in PATROL Configuration Manager.


Getting Localized Parameters

To Create a RuleSet

From the PATROL Console, access the KM Command popup menu for the AS_CHANGESPRING application instance and choose Event Management => Parameter Settings => Thresholds.

PATROL creates a PATROL Configuration Manager RuleSet file that you can apply to many agents. The name and location of the RuleSet are printed to the system output window.



The advantage of creating the RuleSet in the PATROL configuration database on the agent is that you do not have to move files around. You can save it to the agent and then perform a Get on an agent and create a RuleSet from the backup folder without having to move a file from one computer to another.


Getting Global Parameters

Getting Global Parameters

The Get Global Parameters commands create a RuleSet for all of your global thresholds. With these commands you can create RuleSets for all of your thresholds and manage them with PATROL Configuration Manager.

To Create a RuleSet For All Knowledge Modules

Create a RuleSet for all knowledge modules by choosing Get Global Parameters => Create a Ruleset => All Knowledge Modules. PATROL creates a PATROL Configuration Manager RuleSet file that you can apply to many agents. The name and location of the RuleSet are printed to the system output window as shown in Figure 59 on page 246.

To Create a RuleSet For Select Knowledge Modules

Create a RuleSet for select knowledge modules by choosing Get Global Parameters => Create a Ruleset => Select Knowledge Modules. PATROL displays the Select Knowledge Module(s) dialog box as shown in Figure 60.

Choose the KMs you want to include and click Accept.

Figure 60 Select the Knowledge Modules Dialog Box


Getting Global Poll Times

To Store in PATROL Configuration Database For All Knowledge Modules

Save the RuleSet information in the PATROL Agent configuration database on the selected agent instead of creating an external configuration file by choosing Get Global Parameters => Store in PATROL Configuration DB => All Knowledge Modules.

To Store in PATROL Configuration Database For Selected Knowledge Modules

1 Save the RuleSet information in the PATROL Agent configuration database on the selected agent instead of creating an external configuration file by choosing Get Global Parameters => Store in PATROL Configuration DB => Select Knowledge Modules.

PATROL displays the Select the Knowledge Modules dialog box as shown in Figure 60 on page 249.

2 Choose the KMs you want to include and click Accept.

Getting Global Poll Times

The Get Global Polltimes commands create a RuleSet for all of your global polltimes. With these commands you can create RuleSets for all of your poll times and manage them with PATROL Configuration Manager.


Create a RuleSet for poll times by choosing Get Global Polltimes => Create Ruleset => All Knowledge Modules. PATROL creates a PATROL Configuration Manager RuleSet file that you can apply to many agents. The name and location of the RuleSet are printed to the system output window after you execute the command.


1 Create a RuleSet for selected KMs poll times by choosing Get Global Polltimes => Create Ruleset => Select Knowledge Modules.

PATROL displays Select the Knowledge Modules dialog box as shown in Figure 60 on page 249.

2 Choose the knowledge module that you want to include and click Accept.


Creating a Default RuleSet


Save the RuleSet information in the PATROL Agent configuration database on the selected agent instead of creating an external configuration file by choosing Get Global Polltimes => Store in PATROL Configuration DB => All Knowledge Modules.

To Store in PATROL Configuration Database For Select Knowledge Modules

1 Save the RuleSet information in the PATROL Agent configuration database on the selected agent instead of creating an external configuration file by choosing Get Global Polltimes => Store in PATROL Configuration DB => Select Knowledge Modules.

PATROL displays Select the Knowledge Modules dialog box as shown in Figure 60 on page 249.

2 Choose the KMs that you want to include and click Accept.

Creating a Default RuleSet

PATROL Configuration Manager shows you what is different from your PATROL Agent config.default file. However, you may want to manage your config.default file as a RuleSet. PATROL Configuration Manager uses pconfig, and since pconfig only shows you what changed and not all settings, creating a RuleSet from the config.default file allows you to see everything that is set on the agent.

Figure 59 on page 246 shows an example of a RuleSet file name in the PATROL Console System Output window. This command creates the following file on the PATROL Agent:

Default_Config_RuleSet.cfg

Updating the PATROL Object List

Creates files that define PATROL objects for PATROL Configuration Manager.

PATROL Configuration Manager does not have dynamic connections to the PATROL Agent. When you create Event Management rules using PATROL Configuration Manager, and you choose the command to add an object, the Add Object list contains a static list of PATROL objects that is created from files installed with PATROL Configuration Manager.


Updating the PATROL Object List

The files that create the objects in PATROL Configuration Manager interface are in the following directory:

<install_dir>\patrol

There are many files in this directory. The key file is called application_classes.def which defines all the application classes that are available in the PATROL Configuration Manager event management commands.

For each application class listed in the application_classes.def file, there is a file that defines the associated parameters and a file that defines the associated instances.

For example, if NT_CPU is an entry in application_classes.def file, the following files define the parameters and instances for NT_CPU:

■ NT_CPU.prm (parameters)■ NT_CPU.sid (instances)

The Create files for patrol_dir command opens the Create List dialog box as shown in Figure 61 on page 252:

Figure 61 Create List Dialog Box

Use the Create List dialog box to specify the output directory for the patrol_dir files.

The results of the command are printed to the system output window.

After you create the new files, move them to the <install_dir>\patrol directory on the PATROL Configuration Manager system.

NOTE The output directory must exist on the PATROL Agent or the command fails.


Creating RuleSet from Comma-Separated Value Files

You can merge the new files with the existing object definitions by copying the entries in the new application_classes.def file to the existing application_classes.def file and then copying all the new .prm and .sid files to the <install_dir>\patrol directory. When you copy the files, replace any identical files with the new files because the new files more accurately reflect your environment.

Creating RuleSet from Comma-Separated Value Files

The Create Ruleset from CSV (comma separated values) File command converts a specifically formatted CSV file into a PATROL Configuration Manager RuleSet.

The PATROL KM for Event Management Reports command saves PATROL KM for Event Management configurations to a CSV file in the format supported by this command. You can create a CSV file with the PATROL KM for Event Management, edit the CSV file using Microsoft Excel or a text editor, and create a RuleSet for the new settings using the Create Ruleset from CSV File command. The Create Ruleset from CSV File command opens the Get File dialog box as shown in Figure 62:

Figure 62 Get File Dialog Box

Use the Get File dialog box to specify the CSV file that you are using as input. Specify the location of the CSV file on the PATROL Agent.

The configuration file is created in the same directory as the other configuration files, and it has the following naming convention:

host_port_ThresholdRuleSet.cfg

After you create the RuleSet from the CSV file, you can copy it to the PATROL Configuration Manager RuleSets directory and apply it to PATROL Agents.

NOTE The Create Ruleset from CSV File command requires input in the same format as the PATROL KM for Event Management CSV report format.


Converting Parameter Overrides to RuleSets

Converting Parameter Overrides to RuleSets

The Convert Overrides to EVS commands delete operator overrides and create PATROL KM for Event Management rules for all of your operator overrides.

With these commands you can create rules for all of your operator overrides and manage them with PATROL Configuration Manager. The KM provides the following Convert Overrides to EVS menu commands:

■ Convert Overrides to EVS => Create Ruleset

■ Convert Overrides to EVS => Store in PATROL’s Configuration DB

To Create a RuleSet

If you choose to create a RuleSet, the command creates a PATROL Configuration Manager RuleSet file that you can apply to many agents. The name and location of the RuleSet are printed to the system output window after you execute the command. Figure 59 on page 246 shows an example of a RuleSet file name in the PATROL Console System Output window. The configuration file has the following naming convention:

host_port_overrideParams.cfg

When you create a RuleSet, you must move the new file from the agent where it is created to the RuleSets directory of PATROL Configuration Manager before you can apply it to agents.



WARNING The operator overrides are removed from the agent.


Turning Off Alarm Ranges

Turning Off Alarm Ranges

The Turn Off Alarm Ranges commands turn off alarm ranges for all or selected KMs. Sometimes when you first load a new KM, there are many parameters flashing because they are in a warning or alarm state. With this command you can turn off these alarms until you get the correct alarm ranges configured. These commands do not change the alarm ranges; they create a RuleSet that turns off the alarms by making the alarm ranges inactive.

The KM provides the following Turn Off Alarm Ranges menu commands:

■ Turn Off Alarm Ranges => Create a Ruleset => All Knowledge Modules

■ Turn Off Alarm Ranges => Create a Ruleset => Select Knowledge Modules

■ Turn Off Alarm Ranges => Create a Ruleset =>Store in PATROL’s Configuration DB => All Knowledge Modules

■ Turn Off Alarm Ranges => Create a Ruleset =>Store in PATROL’s Configuration DB => Select Knowledge Modules


If you choose to create a RuleSet, the command creates a PATROL Configuration Manager RuleSet file that you can apply to many agents. The name and location of the RuleSet are printed to the system output window after you execute the command. Figure 59 on page 246 shows an example of a RuleSet file name in the PATROL Console System Output window. The configuration file has the following naming convention:

host_port_GlobalParams.cfg

When you create a RuleSet, you must move the new file from the agent where it is created to the RuleSets directory of PATROL Configuration Manager before you can apply it to agents.


This command is the same as the Turn Off Alarm Ranges => Create a Ruleset => All Knowledge Modules command, but you can choose the KMs you want to include. Figure 60 on page 249 shows the Select the Knowledge Modules dialog box.

NOTE After you turn the alarm ranges off, you must adjust and activate each parameter individually.


Import PATROL Console Configuration Files



To Store in PATROL Configuration Database For Select Knowledge Modules

This command is the same as the Turn Off Alarm Ranges => Store in PATROL Configuration DB => All Knowledge Modules command, but you can choose the KMs you want to include. Figure 60 on page 249 shows the Select the Knowledge Modules dialog box.

Import PATROL Console Configuration FilesYou can import PATROL Console desktop configuration files into PATROL Configuration Manager. You achieve this result by converting the PATROL Console desktop files to PATROL Configuration Manager agent.ini and group.ini files. Then you copy the new ini files into your PATROL Configuration Manager ini directory.

The PATROL Console desktop files are converted to PATROL Configuration Manager ini files with the csmi utility.

Conversion Guidelines

The csmi utility converts the PATROL Console desktops files into PATROL Configuration Manager .ini files using the following guidelines:

■ Each PATROL Console profile becomes a PATROL Configuration Manager agent group.

■ Each PATROL Agent in a PATROL Console profile is added to the group created for the profile.

The following task shows you how to convert your PATROL Console desktop data and import the data into PATROL Configuration Manager.

NOTE The csmi utility converts only PATROL Console desktop files from the PATROL Console for Windows and the PATROL Console for UNIX. The PATROL Central consoles do not use desktop files.


Converting PATROL Console Desktop Settings to .ini Files

Converting PATROL Console Desktop Settings to .ini Files

Convert your PATROL Console desktop configuration into .ini files.

Before You Begin

Ensure you have access to the PATROL cache directory (PATROL_CACHE) where your PATROL Console configuration files are saved.

To Convert Your PATROL Console Desktop Files

1 Open a command prompt.

2 Change to the utils directory in PATROL Configuration Manager installation directory.

■ (UNIX) – cd /opt/bmc/pconfmgr

■ (Windows) – cd C:\Program Files\BMC Software\pconfmgr\utils

3 Start the csmi utility with the following command:

■ (UNIX) – csmi.csh

■ (Windows)– csmi.bat

4 Enter the full path of your PATROL cache directory, or press Enter to accept the default.

5 Enter the most frequently used Agent port number, or press enter to accept the default value (3181).

6 Enter the most frequently used protocol (UDP/TCP) for connecting to the PATROL Agent, or press enter to accept the default value (TCP).

7 The csmi utility converts your PATROL desktop configuration files into the following files:

■ groups.ini■ agents.ini

The new agents.ini and groups.ini files are written to the PATROL Configuration Manager utils directory where you started the csmi utility in step 3 on page 257.

If you have additional PATROL cache directories to convert, move the new agents.ini and groups.ini files before you run the csmi utility because it overwrites any agents.ini and groups.ini files that are in the utils directory if you run the utility again.


Importing the Converted Data into PATROL Configuration Manager

Importing the Converted Data into PATROL Configuration Manager

Import converted data in the form of .ini files into the PATROL Configuration Manager.

Before You Begin

Exit PATROL Configuration Manager before you import the converted PATROL Console desktop settings.

To Import the Converted Data into PATROL Configuration Manager

Copy the agents.ini and groups.ini files from the PATROL Configuration Manager utils directory to the PATROL Configuration Manager ini directory.

If you already have agents.ini and groups.ini files in your ini directory, you should backup or rename the existing ini files.

If you have desktop settings from several different PATROL Consoles or user profiles, you can manually merge the .ini files, but you must move the ini files out of the utils directory each time you convert a profile, or you overwrite the last one you converted.


C h a p t e r 9
9 Command Line Interface
This chapter discusses the PATROL Configuration Manager command line interface (CLI). It describes how to access the CLI, lists and defines CLI options, and provides some sample scripts. This chapter presents the following topics:

Features of the PATROL Configuration Manager CLI Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260Dependencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260Location. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261Command Line Interface (CLI) Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263Script File Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264Error Handling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Sample Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268


Features of the PATROL Configuration Manager CLI Utility

Features of the PATROL Configuration Manager CLI Utility

The PATROL Configuration Manager Command Line Interface (CLI) is provided for you to perform some configuration management tasks by non-interactive methods such as scripts and batch files.

The command line interface provides a subset of the GUI functionality. The tasks supported by the CLI include

■ distributing RuleSets to groups and agents■ distributing license files to groups and agents■ generating reports

Dependencies

To use the PATROL Configuration Manager CLI, you must

■ have agent and group information in the respective initialization file■ stored user credentials in the Secure Key Store, if the agents require authentication

Location

Table 58 lists the path and filename of the CLI on Windows and UNIX platforms.

Table 58 PATROL Configuration Manager CLI Path and File Name

Operating System Filename Path

Windows PCM.cmd %BMC_ROOT%\pconfmgr\

UNIX PCM.sh $BMC_ROOT/pconfmgr/


Authentication

Authentication

To generate reports and distribute configurations to an agent that requires authentication, PATROL Configuration Manager must access the Secure Key Store and retrieve the user name and password for the agent.

For more information about authentication, see the PATROL Security User Guide.

Default Login Mode

For security reasons, the PCM policy, which is installed during the installation of PATROL Configuration Manager, does not contain a password stanza and thus defaults to attended login mode.

Unattended Login Mode

To Run in Unattended Login Mode

1 Navigate to the platform-specific bin directory for PATROL Configuration Manager. Table 59 lists the location for each platforms.

2 Type the script name and press Enter. Table 60 lists the script for each platform.

The script installs the password stanza in the policy. The stanza consists of an encrypted password and a reference to the key material file required to open the Secure Key Store. Figure 63 on page 262 provides an example of the command for computers running the Windows operating system. A similar script is available for UNIX systems.

Table 59 Location of the pcm_cli_allow_unattended_login Script

Operating System Path

UNIX $BMC_ROOT/pconfmgr/bin/OS

Windows %BMC_ROOT%\pconfmgr\bin\Windows-x86

Table 60 pcm_cli_allow_unattended_login Script per Platform

Operating System Script Filename

UNIX pcm_cli_allow_unattended_login.sh

Windows pcm_cli_allow_unattended_login.cmd


Authentication

Additional Security Considerations

Any computer that stores a password (encrypted or decrypted) and keyfile on it is susceptible to an attack. Provide physical security for the system such as restricting user access to the system.

Attended Login Mode

If unattended login mode is unavailable or undesirable, you can use the Interactive password prompt to access the Secure Key Store. In attended login mode, the execution of the batch script pauses until the password is provided from STDIN, which masks the password. Figure 64 provides an example of an a script running in attended login mode.

Figure 63 Example of pmc_cli_allow_unattended_login.cmd

”C:\Program Files\BMC Software\common\security\config_v3.0\policy_install.cmd” “C:\Program Files\BMC Software\pconfmgr\security\pcm_cli.reg” TRUE “C:\Program Files\BMC Software\common\security\config_v3.0\PtRegCheck.exe" C:\Program Files\BMC Software\common\security\config_v3.0\PtRegDelete.exe"“C:\Program Files\BMC Software\common\security\bin_v3.0\Windows-x86\SecMngr.exe” "Patrol\SecurityPolicy_v3.0\pcm_cli\keystore"

NOTE To prevent unauthorized access of the Secure Key Store, you can restrict the permissions on the key material file to read only for one user name, under which all batch operations are performed.

Figure 64 Example of pcmcli Interacting with a Policy in Running Attended Mode

pcmcli -f mypcmscript.txtPlease enter the SKS password:*


Command Line Interface (CLI) Options

Command Line Interface (CLI) Options

The PATROL Configuration Manager CLI performs two primary functions:

■ passing authentication information

■ process a script file that contains commands regarding RuleSet / License distribution and report generation

Syntax

Figure 65 displays its basic syntax. The CLI utility’s extension (represented by the variable .ext) and the policy argument will be platform-specific.

Option

Table 61 describes the options and their arguments.

Figure 65 PATROL Configuration Manager CLI Syntax

pcm.ext -P policy_name -f filename

Table 61 PATROL Configuration Manager CLI Options and Arguments (part 1 of 2)

Option Argument Description

-P policy_name designates the Security Policy to be used during authentication operations

■ For Windows, you must provide a fully qualified registry path such as -P “SOFTWARE\BMC Software\Patrol\SecurityPolicy_v3.0\pcm_cli”

■ For UNIX, you must provide a fully qualified security policy file name such as -P /etc/patrol.d/SecurityPolicy_v3.0/pcm_cli.plc

-d # turns the debug option on or off

0–off1–on

-f filename references the script file that contains the PATROL Configuration Manager CLI commands

For information about the script file syntax, see “Script File Options” on page 264.


Script File Options

Script File Options

The script file contains all the commands to perform configuration tasks.

Syntax

Figure 66 displays the basic file syntax.

-help command displays usage information about PATROL Configuration Manager

Commands for which help is available for scripts include

applylicensereportadd_agentadd_groupconfig_sec

-v display version information about the utility

Figure 66 PATROL Configuration Manager CLI Script File Syntax

command_1 -option_1 -argument_1command_2 -option_2 -argument_2command_N -option_N -argument_N

Table 61 PATROL Configuration Manager CLI Options and Arguments (part 2 of 2)

Option Argument Description


Script File Options

Options

Table 62 describes the commands, their options, and their corresponding arguments.

Table 62 PATROL Configuration Manager CLI File Options (part 1 of 3)

Command Option Argument Description

apply applies the specified RuleSet(s) to a group or an agent

This command is used to distribute RuleSets. Either a Group or an agent name must be provided.

-g GroupName apply RuleSet to a group or subgroup

-a AgentName apply RuleSet to an agent

-ol overwrite existing localized settings

-pa purge the agent of all configuration changes before applying the current RuleSet

-ba write the current agent configuration to a backup RuleSet

-cg apply ApplyOnApply rules in the specified group

-pt apply ApplyOnAppy rules in the parent tree groups

RuleSet patha and name of the Rule set relative to the RuleSets directory

add agent adds an agent

This command is used to add agents. If the group name is not specified, the agent is added to the root node.

-app RuleSetName

(Optional)

apply ApplyOnNew rules to an agent

-auth use authentication for configuration purposes

-ba back up agents before applying rules or RuleSets

-cg apply ApplyOnNew items in the current group

-host Host name host name

-name Display name display name (the default is the host name)

-ol overwrite the current localized settings

-pa purge the agent of all configuration changes before applying

-pg Parent Group parent group

-port Port port (default : 3181)

-proto Protocol protocol (TCP or UDP) (Default: TCP)

-pt apply ApplyOnNew items in the parent tree groups

-sec Security Level security level (0, 1,2 3, or 4) (Default 0)


Script File Options

add_group adds a group

This command is used to add groups. If a sub-group is to be added, you must specify the parent group hierarchy for the sub-group.

-g Group name the group name which needs to be added

-pg Parent group name the parent group to which the new group needs to be added

config_sec security configuration.

This command is used to add information pertaining to the security configuration of the agent.

-a Agent name agent name

-d Default credentials

-r Remove security configuration

This command is used to remove the security configured for the agent.

license sends the specified license file to a group or an agent

If the license file is not in the current working path, the License argument must include the fully qualified path. Either a group or an agent name must be provided.

-g GroupName apply license to a group or subgroup

-a AgentName apply license to an agent

License fully qualified patha and name of the license file




Error Handling

Error Handling

An error in any of the commands contained within the script causes the entire script to abort. The CLI returns an error code of 1.

report gathers requested information, organizes it into a report, and formats the report according to your specification

Either a group or an agent name must be provided.

-g GroupName generate a report for this group or subgroup

-a AgentName generate a report for this agent

-os collect operating system and agent information

-ic collect installed component information

-km collect preloaded and active knowledge module information

-ac collect application class information

-ai collect application class instance information

-pi collect parameter information

-ub extract report information from backup configuration files

This option reduces the time required to generate a report but may provide stale information. This option can only be used with -os and -km options.

-csv save report in comma-separated value formatb (*.csv)

-htm save report in HyperText Markup Language formatb (*.htm)

-xml save report in eXtensible Markup Language formatb (*.xml)

FileName fully qualified patha and name of the report output file, without extension

a If a path contains spaces or blanks, the path must be enclosed in quotes (“ “).

b The default report format is text (*.txt).




Sample Scripts

Sample ScriptsThis section provides some sample scripts that demonstrate some possible ways in which the PATROL Configuration Manager CLI can be employed.

Scheduling

To schedule PATROL Configuration Manager reports to run at a designated time requires creating the script file and then entering the command into an operating specific job schedule. This sample script addresses the task on both UNIX (Solaris) and Windows platforms.

UNIX

To Define a PATROL Configuration Manager Report in a Script File

1 Open a text editor and create a script similar to the one in Figure 67.

2 Test the script to ensure that it produces the desired results.

NOTE Everything about these samples is system and/or platform-specific: directory names, filenames, report data and so forth. The scripts are provided as models from which you should extrapolate.

Do not attempt to implement them as written.

Figure 67 Generate a Report by Using PATROL Configuration Manager CLI on Solaris

#!/bin/shJAVA_HOME=/usr/j2re1.4.2_07PCM_DIR=/opt/bmc/pconfmgrTMP_DIR=/tmpSCRIPT=$TMP_DIR/dailyreport.cliLOG=$TMP_DIR/dailyreport.logOUTPUT=$TMP_DIR/dailyreportcat > $SCRIPT << EOFreport –km –ac –ai –pi –g Production –pi –htm $OUTPUTEOFPATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH $PCM_DIR/PCM.sh –P /etc/patrol.d/security_policy_v3.0/pcm_cli.plc –f $SCRIPT > $LOG 2>&1


Scheduling

To Schedule a Script to Run

Add an entry to the crontab that will run the report at a desired time. The entry displayed in Figure 68 runs the report every day at 3:15 a.m.

Windows

To Define a PATROL Configuration Manager Report in a Script File

1 Open a text editor and create a script (*.cmd) similar to the one in Figure 69.

2 Test the script to ensure that it produces the desired results.

To Schedule a Script to Run in Windows

Navigate to the Control Pane, select the Scheduled Tasks applet, and run the Add Scheduled Task wizard. Add a task that calls the script file (*.cmd) that you created with the desired frequency.

Figure 68 Schedule a Report on UNIX – crontab Entry

15 3 * * * $HOME/dailyreport.sh

Figure 69 Generate a Report by Using PATROL Configuration Manager CLI on Windows

set SCRIPT=%TEMP%\dailyreport.cliset LOG=%TEMP%\dailyreport.logset OUTPUT=%TEMP%\dailyreportecho report -km -ac -ai -pi -g Production -pi -htm %OUTPUT% > %TEMP%\dailyreport.cliPCM.cmd -P "SOFTWARE\BMC Software\PATROL\SecurityPolicy_v3.0\pcm_cli" -f %SCRIPT% > %LOG% 2>&1


Scheduling


A p p e n d i x A
A Configuration Settings
This appendix describes the directories, files, and settings used by the PATROL Configuration Manager component.

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272Configuration Settings Changed Using the File => Configure Command. . . . . 272Configuration Settings Changed by Editing the PCM.ini File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273


Overview

Overview

PATROL Configuration Manager configuration values are stored in the PCM.ini file. Some configuration values are changed using the File => Configure command, and some configuration values are changed by editing the PCM.ini file.

Configuration Settings Changed Using the File => Configure Command

The following configuration settings are changed using the File => Configure command on the Menu bar.

■ backup_before_apply■ backup_dir■ backup_folder_groups■ backup_folder_min■ backup_identical_configurations■ backups_saved■ comments_dir■ errorfile■ images_dir■ ini_dir ■ logfile■ local_dir■ PATROL Configuration Manager initialization file■ queue_dir■ ruleset_dir ■ tlog_dir■ transactions_saved

NOTE Prior to performing an upgrade, backup the entire PATROL Configuration Manager installation directory. All configuration values are stored in the PATROL Configuration Manager initialization file, defaulted to PCM.ini at installation.


Configuration Settings Changed by Editing the PCM.ini File


Table 63 describes the configuration settings that can be changed by editing the PCM.ini file.

NOTE Some of the configuration variables will not be in the PCM.ini file, and you need to create the variable to set the configuration value.

Table 63 PATROL Configuration Manager Configuration Variables (part 1 of 8)

Variable Type Description Default Value

applyonnew_active setting indicates whether the ApplyOnNew feature is on

true

autosave_enabled setting immediately saves agents.ini and groups.ini when a change is made to either’s respective data

true = save automaticallyfalse = save changes only when the user initiates a save through the menu command

false

backup_before_apply setting indicates if the agent configuration is backed up before new RuleSets are applied

true

backup_dir directory directory that contains agent configuration backups

install_dir/rulesets/PCM/backup

backup_folder_groups setting maximum number of virtual backup folders

20

backup_folder_min setting minimum number of agents in a virtual backup folder before creating a new virtual backup folder

20

backup_identical_configurations

setting indicates if agent configurations that are identical to the most recent agent configuration backup are saved

false

backups_saved setting maximum number of backups to save for an agent

5

bin_dir directory directory containing the backend, security, and other support libraries

install_dir/bin/platform



comments_dir directory directory that contains comments for RuleSets

install_dir/comments

debuglevel setting determines the level of debug messages sent to the Debug Window; valid values are

1 = Critical Error2 = Error3 = Warning4 = Info5 = Detail6 = Trace7 = Verbose

2

debugloglevel setting determines the level of debug messages sent to the error file, PCM.err; for a range of values, see debuglevel

2

debugwindow setting determines whether PATROL Configuration Manager displays a window with debug information

false

discovery_max_burst_packets

setting specifies the number of connection attempts or PATROL pings the Agent Discovery wizard sends in a single burst during discovery

254

discovery_burst_delay setting specifies the number of milliseconds that the Agent Discovery wizard waits between sending connection attempt or PATROL ping bursts during discovery

20

discovery_tcp_ignore_connect_timeout

setting instructs the Agent Discovery wizard to ignore the time out value until after a TCP/IP connection is made

false

errorfile file file that contains PATROL Configuration Manager error messages

install_dir/PCM.err

ess_bin_dir directory directory containing the Extended Security System binaries

ess_jar_path directory directory containing the Extended Security System JNI jar file





evs_menu setting indicates if the Event Management menu is included on the Agent short cut menu

true

garbage_collect_after_pconfig

setting If jobs start to fail with an error message “Too many open files,” set this variable to true to force Java clean up unused memory and file descriptors

false

help_dir directory directory in which help files are stored

install_dir/help

images_dir directory directory that contains images used in the PATROL Configuration Manager interface

install_dir/images

ini_dir directory directory that contains information about all configured agents (agents.ini) and groups (groups.ini)

install_dir/ini

install_dir directory the directory where PATROL Configuration Manager is installed

install_dir

keep_report_data setting determines whether temporary report files are saved when PATROL Configuration Manager exits; true indicates that the files are saved

false

local_dir directory directory that contains the localized agent RuleSets

ruleset_dir/PCM/local

lock_check_timer setting determines how often (in seconds) to check for agent and group locks and update the lock information in PATROL Configuration Manager

Valid values range from 0 to 250.

1

locking_retry_wait setting specifies the number of milliseconds that PATROL Configuration Manager waits when attempting to lock a file

Valid values range from 1 to 10.





locking_max_retries setting specifies the number of times PATROL Configuration Manager attempts to lock a file

logfile file file that contains a log of all operations performed against agents

install_dir/PCM.log

max_agents_per_report_thread

setting determines the maximum number of agents with which a single report process communicates

10

max_config_file_lines setting determines the maximum number of lines that a single .cfg file can transfer to an agent

500

max_folder_length setting determines maximum number of characters in folder directory name (Windows Only)

200

max_ini_backups setting determines the maximum number of backups of ini files that will be retained for the following ini files: PCM.ini, agents.ini, groups.ini, and rulealiases.ini

2

max_path_length setting determines the maximum number of characters in a full file path (Windows Only)

256

message_max_lines setting maximum number of lines displayed in the Status window

150

message_truncate_lines setting number of lines in status buffer before truncating to maximum number of lines in Status Window

50

PATROL Configuration Manager initialization file

file the file that contains these variables that define application defaults such as directory and file locations and PATROL Configuration Manager settings

install_dir/PCM.ini

patrol_dir directory directory that contains a static list of PATROL objects

install_dir/patrol





pconfig_debug_mode setting defines the debug level for pconfig

Valid values range from 0 (no debugging info) to 65535 (full trace).

0

pconfig_local_port setting defines the local port that PATROL Configuration Manager uses to communicate with PATROL Agents

This variable is used when you need to communicate with agents through a firewall where the firewall rules require a host to use a specific port number.

When the pconfig_local_port variable is specified, PATROL Configuration Manager single threads all agent operations.

If single threading all agent operations is an issue, you can use one .ini file for all agents that you connect to through a firewall and another .ini file for agent connections that are not through a firewall.

randomly-assigned port number

pconfig_use_strict setting enable or disable the usage of the pconfig +strict option, which enforces stringent rule variable naming guidelines

true

pexec_args setting determines whether additional arguments can be passed to the pcm_pexec utility

yes

pexec_debug_mode setting sets pcm_exec in debug mode and instructs the utility to write input to a temporary file

false

pexec_timeout setting specifies the timeout in seconds for pcm_pexec operations such as reporting and real-time object selection

300





pexec_trace_mode setting enables the full trace mode in the pexec API and turns on trace in the PSL functions of the reporting library

The value for full trace mode is 65535.

queue_dir directory contains all rules to be applied install_dir/rulesets/PCM/queue

report_local_overwrite setting creates a report that lists all the global rules that have been overwritten by local rules

The report is generated before a set of rules is applied to an agent or group

false

reports_dir directory directory in which reports are stored

install_dir/reports

rt_servers setting stores the last RT Server locator string used by the Agent Discovery Wizard

tcp:localhost:2059

ruleset_dir directory contains all RuleSet sub-folders and files

install_dir/rulesets

ruleset_max_search_results

setting the maximum number of matches returned by the RuleSet search

If the search returns more that the default number, PATROL Configuration Manager opens a dialog box that tell you.

5000

ruleset_search_items_file

file contains the persistent settings of the last RuleSet search criteria

ini_dir/ruleset_search.ini

ruleval_max_length setting maximum number of characters that can make-up a rule value; this value should correspond with the limit of the PATROL Agent receiving the value; various versions of the agent have various limitations

1020





search_sleep_delay setting how long, in milliseconds, that PATROL Configuration Manager sleeps after searching for search_sleep_interval seconds

This setting, together with search_sleep_interval is used to limit CPU usage during long searches.

100 milliseconds

search_sleep_interval setting how often, in seconds, that PATROL Configuration Manager sleeps for search_sleep_delay milliseconds

This setting, together with search_sleep_delay is used to limit CPU usage during long searches.

2 seconds

threads_delay setting the number of milliseconds PATROL Configuration Manager waits before starting a new thread after a thread is freed

1000

threads_max setting the maximum number of threads used to perform RuleSet operations like simultaneous apply operations

20

tips_file file the file that contains the tooltips that are displayed when a user’s mouse is positioned on a rule

install_dir/rules.tip

tips_file_custom file file that contains custom tooltips that are displayed when a user’s mouse is positioned on a rule

Adds to or overrides definitions in the tips_file.

install_dir/rules_custom.tip

tlog_dir directory directory where the change history for each agent is stored

install_dir/rulesets/PCM/tlog

tooltips_activate setting determines whether PATROL Configuration Manager displays tooltips; true indicates that tooltips are displayed

false





transactions_saved setting specifies the maximum number of transactions to save in the transaction log

5

utils_dir directory directory in which utilities are installed

install_dir/utils




A p p e n d i x B
B Supported Regular Expressions
This appendix describes the supported regular expressions that you can use for searching with the PATROL Configuration Manager component.

The regular expression search in PATROL Configuration Manager supports a limited sub-set of regular expressions. Table 64 lists the regular expression features that are supported by PATROL Configuration Manager.

Table 64 Supported Regular Expressions (part 1 of 3)

Example Description

b Match any character b, where b is not a special character.

bc Match the occurrence of regular expression b followed by the occurrence of regular expression c. (Concatenation)

\c Match the special character c, where c is any character that has special meaning, for example, \n (new-line character) and \\ (single backslash).

There are also character class shortcuts, for example, \b (word boundary), \B (non-word boundary), \w (alpha-numeric), and \W (non-alpha-numeric).

^ Match the following characters at the beginning of a line.

For example, ^abc matches abc only if it is at the beginning of a line.

$ Match the following characters at the end of a line.

For example, abc$ matches abc only if it is at the end of a line.

. Match any character.

For example, a.c matches a, then any one character, then c.

Note that a\.c matches a, then a dot, then c.


[s] Match a sequence of characters (must be a non-empty set).

Ranges may be specified as m-n.

The characters ^, -, ], and [ cannot be included in the set.

For example, [A-Z], [a-zA-Z], [0-9a-z], and [?.*]

The last example, [?.*], matches any string with either a question mark, a dot, a star, or a string containing any combination of the three.

Ranges are only valid if the LC_COLLATE category is set to the C locale. If the LC_COLLATE category is not set to the C locale., the effect of using the range notation is unspecified.

[^s] Match strings that do not contain the characters in the set.

r* Match zero or more successive occurrences of the regular expression r.

The longest left-most match is returned.

r+ Match one or more successive occurrences of the regular expression r.

The longest left-most match is returned.

r? Match zero or one occurrence of the regular expression r.

Without an anchor to the right, this regular expression matches a string containing more than one occurrence, because it contains one occurrence. For example, x? matches x, xx, and xxxxx

r{m,n} Match any number of m through n successive occurrences of the regular expression r.

The regular expression r{m} matches exactly m occurrences, and r{m,} matches at least m occurrences.

The maximum number of occurrences is matched.

For example, a(1,3} matches the following strings:

a, aa, aaa, as well as aaaa, aaaaa, and so on.

Since the regular expression looks for one to three occurrences of a at any point in the string, it also matches four occurrences of a.

Consider anchoring the end of the string to limit the upper-bound match count. for example, a{1,3}$ or a{1,3}[b-z].

(r) Specifies the regular expression r is used for grouping.

The ( and ) are ignored.


Example Description


\n The back-reference expression \n matches the same (possibly empty) string of characters matched by a sub expression enclosed between ( and ) preceding \n.

The character n must be a digit between 1 to 9 that defines how many previous sub expressions are matched. The expression is invalid if less than n sub expressions precede the \n.

Examples

■ ^(.*)\1$ matches a line consisting of two adjacent appearances of the same string

■ (a)*\1 fails to match a but matches aa

■ (abc)\2 is invalid because there is only one sub expression but two are specified

■ (abc)(efg)\2 is a valid expression

The limit of nine back-references to sub expressions is based on the need to have a single digit identifier.

| The regular expression OR operator allows for more than one regular expression to match.

For example, (abc)|(xyz) matches any item with abc or xyz, or both.

Character classes A character class expression represents the set of characters belonging to a character class, as listed in the LC_CTYPE category in the current locale.

All character classes specified in the current locale are recognized. A character class expression is expressed as a character class name enclosed within bracket-colon ([: :]) delimiters.

Imbedding a character class into another character class is not supported.

For example, [^[:alnum:]] is not supported.

The following character class expressions are supported:

■ [:alnum:] ■ [:cntrl:]■ [:lower:]■ [:space:■ [:alpha:]■ [:digit:]■ [:upper:]■ [:blank:]■ [:punct:]


Example Description


A p p e n d i x C
C Troubleshooting and Frequently Asked Questions
This appendix provides common troubleshooting tasks and answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) for the PATROL Configuration Manager. The following topics are discovered:

Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286NT_CPU Polltime Changes Are Not Working . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287PATROL Configuration Manager Does Not Start on Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288PATROL Configuration Manager Does Not Start on UNIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289KM Parameters Are Not in the Object Selection List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290Rule Value Length Too Long . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291PATROL Configuration Manager Labels Missing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292PATROL Configuration Manager Does Not Start on Windows with Abnormal

Termination Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293Reporting Generates Infinite Loop Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295How Do I Move PATROL Configuration Manager from UNIX to Windows? . 296What Is the Purpose of the DELVAR Operation?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296


Troubleshooting

TroubleshootingThe following table lists the troubleshooting topics discussed in this section:

Problem Page

NT_CPU Polltime Changes Are Not Working 287

PATROL Configuration Manager Does Not Start on Windows 288

PATROL Configuration Manager Does Not Start on UNIX 289

KM Parameters Are Not in the Object Selection List 290

Rule Value Length Too Long 291

PATROL Configuration Manager Labels Missing 292

PATROL Configuration Manager Does Not Start on Windows with Abnormal Termination Errors

293


NT_CPU Polltime Changes Are Not Working

NT_CPU Polltime Changes Are Not Working

Problem

The NT_CPU parameter polltimes do not change when the collector polltime or the polltime for the individual parameter is changed through PATROL Configuration Manager.

Solution

This problem is related to agents running the NT OS KM. In this version of the NT_OS KM 3.8.xx. The CPUProcessorColl is no longer associated with NT_CPU; it is now associated with NT_CPU_CONTAINER.

Since PATROL Configuration Manager is retrieving the information from NT_CPU, the entry has to be manually added, it cannot be added through PATROL Configuration Manager. One of the following entries is necessary depending on the KM version:

NT_OS KM Versions Earlier than 3.8.xx

NT_OS KM Versions 3.8.xx and Later

"/AS/EVENTSPRING/PARAM_SETTINGS/POLLTIMES/NT_CPU/__ANYINST__/CPUProcessorColl/interval" = { REPLACE = "600"},

"/AS/EVENTSPRING/PARAM_SETTINGS/POLLTIMES/NT_CPU_CONTAINER/NT_CPU_CONTAINER/CPUProcessorColl/interval" = { REPLACE = "600"},


PATROL Configuration Manager Does Not Start on Windows

PATROL Configuration Manager Does Not Start on Windows

Problem

PATROL Configuration Manager does not start with the following command:

Programs => BMC PATROL => PATROL Configuration Manager

And when you try to start the PATROL Configuration Manager using the PCM.bat file you receive the following error:

Solution

This problem is cause by not being authenticated on the network share where the files are being read from when loading PATROL Configuration Manager. Usually, when trying to map a shared drive or going directly to the remote computer files with UNC, Windows asks for a user name/password before it connects to the remote resource.

Accessing files from PATROL Configuration Manager is subject to the same restrictions, only there is no way to provide the share user name/password when PATROL Configuration Manager tries to access the resources. Instead, access is denied by the operating system and PATROL Configuration Manager cannot read the file.

To correct this, do one of the following:

■ Map a shared drive to the location

■ Access that remote machine with a UNC path so Windows prompts for the user name/password and connect. After you connect one time, PATROL Configuration Manager accesses the files since Windows previously authenticated the remote computer.

Unable to read file \\<host>\$c\Program Files\BMC Software\pconfmgr\ini\groups.ini


PATROL Configuration Manager Does Not Start on UNIX

PATROL Configuration Manager Does Not Start on UNIX

Problem

There are several reasons why PATROL Configuration Manager does not start on a UNIX platform.

Solutions

Explanation Solution

Java is not installed on the system. Install the required version of Java for your operating system.

See “System Requirements” on page 18 for Java version requirements for PATROL Configuration Manager.

The directory location of the java executable or link is not in the $PATH environment variable.

Add the directory location of the java executable or link to the $PATH environment variable set in the .profile of the user account.

The Java Compiler is running an older version of the java compiler.

The Java compiler is not required for PATROL Configuration Manager.

Set and export the environment variable JAVA_COMPILER=off in the user .profile.


KM Parameters Are Not in the Object Selection List

KM Parameters Are Not in the Object Selection List

Problem

PATROL Configuration Manager does not have a dynamic connection to the PATROL Agent. So when you are creating Event Management rules using PATROL Configuration Manager, and you choose the command to add an object, the Add Object list contains a static list of PATROL objects that created from files installed with PATROL Configuration Manager.

Solution

You can manually edit the files that create the items in the Add Object list. See “Updating the PATROL Object List” on page 251 for more information about adding PATROL objects to the PATROL Configuration Manager object selection dialog boxes.


Rule Value Length Too Long

Rule Value Length Too Long

Problem

When you create a rule the Rule Value Length dialog box opens as shown in Figure 70.

Figure 70 Rule Value Length Dialog Box

Solution

PATROL Configuration Manager opens this dialog box when the agent configuration variable contains more than 1,020 characters. PATROL Agent 3.4.x and earlier do not support more than 1,020 characters for an agent configuration variable. However, PATROL Agent 3.5.00 and later does not have this limitation on the agent configuration variable.

If the agent configuration variable is for a PATROL Agent version 3.5 or later, click No.

If the agent configuration variable is for a PATROL Agent earlier than version 3.5.00, you have the following options:

■ click Yes

This trims the agent configuration variable to 1,020 characters, but you lose all the information that is trimmed.

■ click Cancel

This cancels the operation and you can edit the rule to fit into the 1,020 length restriction.


PATROL Configuration Manager Labels Missing

PATROL Configuration Manager Labels Missing

Problem

Labels in PATROL Configuration Manager do not show up on UNIX.

Solution

You may need to change the color preferences in CDE.

To change the colors of your terminal windows on CDE

1 From the system console, choose the Style Manager icon from the CDE Control Bar.

2 Choose the Color Pallet.

3 In the Style Manager - Color dialog box, find the Defaults section.

You see at least four colored squares.

4 Choose the black square or the one on the far right.

5 Click Modify.

6 In the Style Manager - Modify Color window, slide the very bottom slide all the way to the right.

The New square in the top-left corner of the window changes to white.

7 Click OK.

8 Click OK on the Style Manager - Color dialog box.

9 Save your changes and exit CDE.




Problem

When starting PATROL Configuration Manager, the following error is returned:

Solution

This is a generic Java error and not specific to PATROL Configuration Manager. This happens when a bad font is installed in the Windows Fonts directory. This problem has happened with the following font:

johnny-b.ttf

To see if this font is present, you must view the fonts from a command prompt. If the font is present delete it.

This problem can also be caused by non-font files in the Fonts folder.

If the Fonts folder in Windows is set up incorrectly, it can cause system-wide problems that affect javaw.exe.

The Fonts folder should only contain regular font files. Shortcuts to font files in other locations cause problems in the Fonts folder.

If you find a shortcut to a font file in the Fonts folder, locate the font file it is pointing to and copy that font to the Fonts folder, and delete the shortcut.

Do this for every shortcut you find in Fonts folder, and reboot the computer.

PCM.jar Assertion failed: offset < fFileSize, file ../../../src/share/native/sun/awt/font/fontmanager/fontobjects/fontObject.cpp, line 256 abnormal program termination


Reporting Generates Infinite Loop Error

Reporting Generates Infinite Loop Error

Problem

When generating a report on agents with many instances and parameters, PATROL may experience an error and write the following message to the PATROL system output window.

Solution

To solve this problem, you must tune your agent by editing the following agent tuning variables:

/AgentSetup/AgentTuning/pslInstructionMax/AgentSetup/AgentTuning/pslInstructionPeriod

For information about these variables, see Appendix H, “Managing Performance,” in the PATROL Agent Reference Manual.

PatrolAgent-W-EUSER: PSL script `Linux Command', 'hostname', 'hostname' may be in an infinite loop - executed 7000044 instructions


Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked QuestionsThe following tables list the questions discussed in this section:

Problem Page

How Do I Move PATROL Configuration Manager from UNIX to Windows?

296

What Is the Purpose of the DELVAR Operation? 296




Install PATROL Configuration Manager on the Windows system and ftp the data files over to the respective directories. Everything under the following directories is interchangeable:

■ ./ini■ ./patrol■ ./rulesets

What Is the Purpose of the DELVAR Operation?

The DELVAR operation in PATROL Configuration Manager deletes the agent configuration variable on the PATROL Agent. The DELVAR operation is actually a short cut for deleting the value of the variable and replacing it with a null value.

For example, you want to delete the agent configuration variable called /AgentSetup/testvariable on the PATROL Agent using PATROL Configuration Manager. From PATROL Configuration Manager, you edit the same agent configuration variable and change the operation to DELVAR and click OK. Apply that rule to the PATROL Agent and the agent configuration variable is delete from the agent configuration file.

NOTE Do not copy any binaries or ini files that contain path information because the format is different between Windows and UNIX.

NOTE Before performing the above method, ensure there is a backup copy of the agent configuration variable.


A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

GlossaryNote: In this glossary, the names of all Microsoft Windows products are referred to as Microsoft Windows or simply Windows. No distinctions are made between Microsoft operating systems such as Windows Servers, Windows 2000, and Windows NT.

Aaccess control list

A list that is set up by using a PATROL Agent configuration variable and that restricts PATROL Console access to a PATROL Agent. A PATROL Console can be assigned access rights to perform console, agent configuration, or event manager activities. The console server uses access control lists to restrict access to objects in the COS namespace.

agent namespaceSee PATROL Agent namespace.

Agent QueryA PATROL Console feature that constructs SQL-like statements for querying PATROL Agents connected to the console. Agent Query produces a tabular report that contains information about requested objects and can be used to perform object management activities, such as disconnecting and reconnecting computers. Queries can be saved, reissued, added, or changed. PATROL offers built-in queries in the Quick Query command on the Tools menu from the PATROL Console main menu bar. See also Quick Query.

alarmAn indication that a parameter for an object has returned a value within the alarm range or that application discovery has discovered that a file or process is missing since the last application check. An alarm state for an object can be indicated by a flashing icon, depending on the configuration of a console preference. See also warning.

alertA PATROL object changing status. For example, Ok to Alarm. An alert condition is typically caused by a parameter exceeding a threshold.

alert rangeA range of values that serve as thresholds for a warning state or an alarm state. Alert range values cannot fall outside of set border range values. See also border action, border range, and recovery action.

Glossary 297


ALL_COMPUTERS classThe highest-level computer class in PATROL. Attributes assigned to this class will be inherited by all computer classes known to PATROL. See also class and computer class.

annotated data point A specially marked point on a parameter graph that provides detailed information about a parameter at a particular moment. The associated data is accessed by double-clicking the data point, which is represented by a user-specified character (the default is an asterisk) in PATROL 3.x and earlier or by a set bitmap in PATROL Central 7.x. See also parameter.

application accountAn account that you define at KM setup and that you can change for an application class or instance. An application account is commonly used to connect to an RDBMS on a server where the database resides or to run SQL commands.

application check cycleThe interval at which application discovery occurs. The PATROL Agent process cache (as opposed to the system process table) is checked to ensure that all application instances and files previously discovered still exist there. See also application discovery, application discovery rules, prediscovery, process cache refresh, PSL discovery, and simple discovery.

application class The object class to which an application instance belongs; also, the representation of the class as a container (UNIX) or folder (Windows) on the PATROL Console. You can use the developer functionality of a PATROL Console to add or change application classes. See also class.

application discoveryA PATROL Agent procedure carried out at preset intervals on each monitored computer to discover application instances. When an instance is discovered, an icon appears on the PATROL interface. The application class includes rules for discovering processes and files by using simple process and file matching or PSL commands. Application definition information is checked against the information in the PATROL Agent process cache, which is periodically updated. Each time the PATROL Agent process cache is refreshed, application discovery is triggered. See also application check cycle, application discovery rules, PATROL Agent process cache, prediscovery, PSL discovery, and simple discovery.

application discovery rulesA set of rules stored by the PATROL Agent and periodically evaluated to find out whether a specific instance of an application class exists in the monitored environment. The rules describe how a PATROL Agent can detect instances of the application on a computer. There are two types of application discovery: simple and PSL; PSL discovery can include prediscovery rules as well as discovery rules. See also application check cycle, application discovery, prediscovery, PSL discovery, and simple discovery.



application filterA feature used from the PATROL Console to hide all instances of selected application classes for a particular computer. The PATROL Agent continues to monitor the application instances by running parameter commands and recovery actions.

application instanceA system resource that is discovered by PATROL and that contains the information and attributes of the application class that it belongs to. See also application class and instance.

application stateThe condition of an application class or an application instance. The most common application states are OK, warning, and alarm. An application class or instance icon can also show additional conditions. See also computer state and parameter state.

attributeA characteristic that is assigned to a PATROL object (computer class, computer instance, application class, application instance, or parameter) and that you can use to monitor and manage that object. Computers and applications can have attributes such as command type, parameter, menu command, InfoBox command, PATROL setup command, state change action, or environment variable. Parameters can have attributes such as scheduling, command type, and thresholds.

An attribute can be defined globally for all instances of a class or locally for a particular computer or application instance. An instance inherits attributes from a class; however, an attribute defined at the instance level overrides inherited attributes. See also global level and local level.

Bborder action

A command or recovery action associated with a parameter border range and initiated when that range has been breached. Border actions can be initiated immediately when the parameter returns a value outside the border range, after a warning or alarm has occurred a specified number of times, or after all other recovery actions have failed. See also border range.

border rangeA range of values that serve as thresholds for a third-level alert condition when it is possible for a parameter to return a value outside of the alarm range limits. When a border range is breached, border actions can be initiated. See also border action.

built-in commandAn internal command available from the PATROL Agent that monitors and manages functions such as resetting the state of an object, refreshing parameters, and echoing text. The command is identified by the naming convention %command_name. See also built-in macro variable.

Glossary 299


built-in macro variableAn internal variable created and maintained by PATROL for use in built-in commands and PSL. The naming convention for the variable is %{variable_name}. See also built-in command.

Cchart

A plot of parameter data values made by the PATROL Console Charting Server. See also multigraph container and PATROL Console Charting Server.

charting serverSee PATROL Console Charting Server.

classThe object classification in PATROL where global attributes can be defined; the attributes are then inherited by instances of the class. An instance belongs to a computer class or an application class. See also application class, computer class, and event class.

collector parameterA type of parameter that contains instructions for gathering values for consumer parameters to display. A collector parameter does not display any value, issue alarms, or launch recovery actions. See also consumer parameter, parameter, and standard parameter.

command line argumentAn option for starting a PATROL Agent or a PATROL Console at the operating system command line. PATROL Agent arguments include names of KMs to load and port numbers for agent-console connection. PATROL Console arguments include connection mode (developer or operator), user ID to start the PATROL Console, names of KMs to load, and names of the files to use.

command line interfaceSee PATROL Command Line Interface (CLI).

command text editorThe component that provides basic text editing functions for a PATROL Console. It is commonly used to add or change commands (menu commands, parameter data collection and recovery actions, InfoBox commands, setup commands, and state change actions).

command typeThe designation assigned to a command according to its manner of execution. This attribute must be defined for a parameter command, a parameter recovery action, a menu command, an InfoBox command, a setup command, or a state change action. The PATROL Agent provides two command types: operating system (OS) and PSL. PATROL KMs provide additional command types. The developer functionality of a PATROL Console can be used to add or change command types.



commit The process of saving to PATROL Agent computers the changes that have been made to a KM by using a PATROL Console. A PATROL user can disable a PATROL Console’s ability to commit KM changes.

computer classThe basic object class to which computer instances of the same type belong. Examples include Solaris, OSF1, HP, and RS6000. PATROL provides computer classes for all supported computers and operating systems; a PATROL Console with developer functionality can add or change computer classes.

computer instanceA computer that is running in an environment managed by PATROL and that is represented by an icon on the PATROL interface. A computer instance contains the information and attributes of the computer class that it belongs to. See also instance.

computer stateThe condition of a computer. The main computer states are OK, warning, and alarm. A computer icon can show additional conditions that include no output messages pending, output messages pending, void because a connection cannot be established, and void because a connection was previously established but now is broken. See also state.

configuration file, KMSee KM configuration file.

configuration file, PATROL AgentSee PATROL Agent configuration file.

connection modeThe mode in which the PATROL Console is connected to the PATROL Agent. The mode can be developer or operator and is a property of the Add Host dialog box (PATROL 3.x and earlier), an Add Managed System wizard, or other connecting method. The connection mode is a global (console-wide) property that can be overridden for a computer instance. See also PATROL Console.

console moduleA program that extends the functionality of PATROL Central or PATROL Web Central. Console modules can collect data, subscribe to events, access Knowledge Module functions, authenticate users, and perform security-related functions.

console serverA server through which PATROL Central and PATROL Web Central communicate with managed systems. A console server handles requests, events, data, communications, views, customizations, and security.

Glossary 301


consumer parameterA type of parameter that displays a value that was gathered by a collector parameter. A consumer parameter never issues commands and is not scheduled for execution; however, it has alarm definitions and can run recovery actions. See also collector parameter, parameter, and standard parameter.

containerA custom object that you can create to hold any other objects that you select—such as computers, applications, and parameters—in a distributed environment. In Windows, a container is referred to as a folder. You can drag and drop an object into and out of a container icon. However, objects from one computer cannot be dropped inside another computer. Once a container is defined, the object hierarchy applies at each level of the container. That is, a container icon found within a container icon assumes the variable settings of the container in which it is displayed. See also object hierarchy and PATROL Console Charting Server.

customize a KMTo modify properties or attributes locally or globally. See also global level and local level.

customize a parameterSee override a parameter.

custom viewA grid-like view that can be created in PATROL Central or PATROL Web Central to show user-selected information.

Ddeactivate a parameter

To stop running a parameter for selected computer or application instances. In PATROL Consoles for Microsoft Windows environments, deactivating a parameter stops parameter commands and recovery actions and deletes the parameter icon from the application instance window without deleting the parameter definition in the KM tree. A deactivated parameter can be reactivated at any time. See also snooze an alarm and suspend a parameter.

deactivate an application classTo stop monitoring an application class and all of its instances on selected computer instances. In PATROL Consoles for Microsoft Windows environments, deactivating an application class deletes the application class and all of its instance icons from the computer window without deleting the application class or definition in the KM tree. A deactivated application class can be reactivated at any time. See also application filter and deactivate a parameter.

desktop fileIn PATROL 3.x and earlier, a file that stores your desktop layout, the computers that you monitor, the KMs that you loaded, and your PATROL Console user accounts for monitored objects. You can create multiple desktop files for any number of PATROL Consoles. By default, desktop files always have a .dt extension. Desktop files are replaced by management profiles in PATROL 7.x. See also desktop template file.



desktop template fileIn PATROL 3.x and earlier, a file that stores information about the desktop setup of one computer. You can create multiple desktop template files for any number of PATROL Consoles. Each PATROL Console user can apply a template to selected computers on the desktop. By default, desktop template files always have a .dtm extension. See also desktop file.

Desktop treeA feature of PATROL for Microsoft Windows only. One of the views of folders available with PATROL for Microsoft Windows environments, the Desktop tree displays the object hierarchy. See also KM tree.

developer modeAn operational mode of the PATROL Console that can be used to monitor and manage computer instances and application instances and to customize, create, and delete locally loaded Knowledge Modules and commit these changes to selected PATROL Agent computers. See also PATROL Console.

disable an application, disable a KMTo temporarily or permanently block an application or KM from loading and to block the PATROL Agent from using that KM. When a KM is disabled (added to the disabled list) in the agent configuration file, the KM files are not deleted from the PATROL Agent computers, but the PATROL Agent stops using the KM to collect parameter data and run recovery actions. The default is that no KMs are disabled. Most KMs are composed of individual application files with a .km extension. See also preloaded KM, static KM, and unload a KM.

discoverySee application discovery.

distribution CD or tapeA CD or tape that contains a copy of one or more BMC Software products and includes software and documentation (user guides and online help systems).

Eenvironment variable

A variable used to specify settings, such as the program search path for the environment in which PATROL runs. You can set environment variables for computer classes, computer instances, application classes, application instances, and parameters.

eventThe occurrence of a change, such as the appearance of a task icon, the launch of a recovery action, the connection of a console to an agent, or a state change in a monitored object (computer class, computer instance, application class, application instance, or parameter). Events are captured by the PATROL Agent, stored in an event repository file, and forwarded to an event manager (PEM) if an event manager is connected. The types of events forwarded by the agent are governed by a persistent filter for each event manager connected to a PATROL Agent.

Glossary 303


event acknowledgment commandA command that is triggered by the PATROL Agent when an event is acknowledged in an event manager (PEM). See also event escalation command and event notification command.

event catalogA collection of event classes associated with a particular application. PATROL provides a Standard Event Catalog that contains predefined Standard Event Classes for all computer classes and application classes. You can add, customize, and delete an application event catalog only from a PATROL Console in the developer mode. See also event class and Standard Event Catalog.

event class A category of events that you can create according to how you want the events to be handled by an event manager and what actions you want to be taken when the event occurs. Event classes are stored in event catalogs and can be added, modified, or deleted only from a PATROL Console in the developer mode. PATROL provides a number of event classes in the Standard Event Catalog, such as worst application and registered application. See also event catalog and Standard Event Catalog.

event class command A command that is run by the PATROL Agent when certain events occur and that is used in conjunction with an event manager (PEM). The commands are specified for the event class that the event is associated with. A command can be one of three types: escalation, notification, or acknowledgment. See also event acknowledgment command, event escalation command, and event notification command.

Event DiaryThe part of an event manager (PEM) where you can store or change comments about any event in the event log. You can enter commands at any time from the PATROL Event Manager Details window.

event escalation commandA command that is triggered by the PATROL Agent when an event is not acknowledged, closed, or deleted within an event manager (PEM) by the end of the escalation period. See also event acknowledgment command, event escalation period, and event notification command.

event escalation periodA period during which the severity of an event is increased as a result of the event’s persistence. Escalation actions are part of escalation command definitions for event classes and can be triggered only by the PATROL Agent. See also event escalation command.

event history repositoryA circular file where events are stored by the PATROL Agent and accessed by an event manager, such as the PEM. The file resides on the PATROL Agent computer and retains a limited number of events. When the maximum number of events is reached and a new event is stored, the oldest event is removed in a cyclical fashion. See also parameter history repository.



event managerA graphical user interface for monitoring and managing events. The event manager can be used with or without the PATROL Console. See also PATROL Event Manager (PEM).

event notification commandA command that is triggered by the PATROL Agent when an event is logged into an event manager (PEM). See also event acknowledgment command and event escalation command.

event typeThe PATROL-provided category for an event according to a filtering mechanism in an event manager. Event types include information, state change, error, warning, alarm, and response.

event view filterSee view filter.

event-driven scheduling A kind of scheduling that starts a parameter when certain conditions are met. See also periodic scheduling.

expert adviceComments about or instructions for dealing with PATROL events as reported by the agent. Expert advice is defined in the Event Properties dialog box in a PATROL Console in the developer mode. PATROL Consoles in an operator mode view expert advice in the PATROL Event Manager.

Ffilter, application

See application filter.

filter, event viewSee view filter.

filter, persistentSee persistent filter.

Gglobal channel

A single dedicated connection through which PATROL monitors and manages a specific program or operating system. The PATROL Agent maintains this connection to minimize the consumption of program or operating system resources.

global levelIn PATROL hierarchy, the level at which object properties and attributes are defined for all instances of an object or class. An object at the local level inherits characteristics (properties) and attributes from the global level. See also local level.

Glossary 305


Hheartbeat

A periodic message sent between communicating objects to inform each object that the other is still “alive.” For example, the PATROL Console checks to see whether the PATROL Agent is still running.

heartbeat intervalThe interval (in seconds) at which heartbeat messages are sent. The longer the interval, the lower the network traffic. See also message retries, message time-out, and reconnect polling.

historyParameter and event values that are collected and stored on each monitored computer. Parameter values are stored in binary files for a specified period of time; events are stored in circular log files until the maximum size is reached. The size and location of parameter history files are specified through either the PATROL Console or the PATROL Agent; size and location of event history files are specified through an event manager, such as the PEM, or the PATROL Agent.

history repositoryA binary file in which parameter values (except those that are displayed as text) are stored by the PATROL Agent and accessed by the PATROL Console for a specified number of days (the default is one day). When the number of storage days is reached, those values are removed in a cyclical fashion.

history retention levelThe specified level (global or local) where the parameter history retention period for an object is set. The period can be inherited from the next higher level in the object hierarchy or set at the local level. If the history retention level is local, the number of days that history is stored (retention period) must be set. See also history retention period.

history retention periodThe number of days that parameter values are stored in the history database before they are automatically purged by PATROL. The period can be specified at the class (global) or instance (local) level. History retention can be set for all parameters of a computer class, a computer instance, an application class, or an application instance. History for an individual parameter on an application instance can be manually cleared at any time by using a PATROL Console. See also history retention level.

history spanThe combined settings for a parameter’s history retention level and history retention period. See also history retention level and history retention period.



IInfoBox

A dialog box that contains a static list of fields and displays current information about an object, such as the version number of an RDBMS and whether the object is online or offline. Commands are run when the InfoBox is opened. Information can be manually updated if the InfoBox remains open for a period of time. PATROL provides a number of commands for obtaining and displaying object information in an InfoBox. Only a PATROL Console in the developer mode can be used to add or change commands.

information eventAny event that is not a state change or an error. Typical information events occur when a parameter is activated or deactivated, a parameter is suspended or resumed, or application discovery is run. The default setting for PATROL is to prevent this type of event from being stored in the event repository. To store and display this type of event, you must modify the persistent filter setting in the PATROL Agent configuration file.

instanceA computer or discovered application that is running in an environment managed by PATROL. An instance has all the attributes of the class that it belongs to. A computer instance is a monitored computer that has been added to the PATROL Console. An application instance is discovered by PATROL. See also application discovery, application instance, and computer instance.

J

KKM

See Knowledge Module (KM).

KM configuration fileA file in which the characteristics of a KM are defined through KM menu commands during KM installation and setup (if setup is required). See also Knowledge Module (KM) and PATROL Agent configuration file.

KM listA list of KMs used by a PATROL Agent or PATROL Console. See also Knowledge Module (KM).

KM MigratorSee PATROL KM Migrator. See also Knowledge Module (KM).

KM packageSee Knowledge Module package.

Glossary 307


KM treeA feature of PATROL for Microsoft Windows only. One of two views of folders available in Windows. The KM tree displays computer classes, application classes, and their customized instances in the knowledge hierarchy and also displays the Standard Event Catalog. A PATROL Console in operator mode can only view the KM tree; only a PATROL Console in the developer mode can change KM properties and attributes. See also Desktop tree and Knowledge Module (KM).

knowledge hierarchyThe rules by which objects inherit or are assigned attributes. (In PATROL Consoles for Microsoft Windows environments, classes of objects are represented in the Computer Classes and Application Classes sets of folders on the KM tree.) Properties and attributes of a customized instance override those defined for the class to which the instance belongs.

Knowledge Module (KM)A set of files from which a PATROL Agent receives information about resources running on a monitored computer. A KM file can contain the actual instructions for monitoring objects or simply a list of KMs to load. KMs are loaded by a PATROL Agent and a PATROL Console.

KMs provide information for the way monitored computers are represented in the PATROL interface, for the discovery of application instances and the way they are represented, for parameters that are run under those applications, and for the options available on object pop-up menus. A PATROL Console in the developer mode can change KM knowledge for its current session, save knowledge for all of its future sessions, and commit KM changes to specified PATROL Agent computers. See also commit, KM configuration file, KM list, KM Migrator, KM tree, load KMs, and version arbitration.

Knowledge Module packageA package of PATROL KM files that can be distributed by an installation program or stored in and distributed by the PATROL KMDS. The package file has a .pkg file extension. KM packages are created by using a PATROL Console in the developer mode. See also Knowledge Module (KM), PATROL Console, PATROL Knowledge Module Deployment Server (PATROL KMDS), and PATROL Knowledge Module Deployment Server Manager (PATROL KMDS Manager).

Lload applications

Same as load KMs. Most KMs are composed of application files with a .km extension.

load KMsTo place KM files into memory for execution. After configuration and during startup, the PATROL Agent loads the KM files that are listed in its configuration file and that reside on the PATROL Agent computer. When a PATROL Console connects to the PATROL Agent, the KM versions that the agent executes depend on whether the console has developer or operator functionality. See also Knowledge Module (KM) and version arbitration.



local historyThe history (stored parameter values) for an object or instance. See also global level and local level.

local history retention periodThe length of time set by the user during which stored parameter values for an object or instance are retained.

local levelIn PATROL hierarchy, the level of a computer instance or an application instance. An object (instance) at the local level inherits properties and attributes that are defined globally. When properties and attributes are customized locally for an individual instance, they override inherited attributes. See also global level.

Mmanaged object

Any object that PATROL manages. See object.

managed systemA system—usually a computer on which a PATROL Agent is running—that is added (connected) to a PATROL Console to be monitored and managed by PATROL and that is represented by an icon on the PATROL interface.

management profileA user profile for PATROL Central and PATROL Web Central that is stored by the console server. A management profile is similar to a session file and contains information about custom views, your current view of the PATROL environment, information about systems that you are currently managing, Knowledge Module information, and console layout information for PATROL Central. Management profiles replace desktop files and session files that were used in PATROL 3.x and earlier.

master agentSee PATROL SNMP Master Agent.

message retriesA feature of UDP only. The number of times that the PATROL Console will resend a message to the PATROL Agent. The greater the number of message retries, the more time the PATROL Console will give the PATROL Agent to respond before deciding that the agent connection is down and timing out. The number of message retries multiplied by message time-out (in seconds) is the approximate time allowed for a connection verification. See also heartbeat, heartbeat interval, message time-out, and reconnect polling.

message time-outA feature of UDP only. The time interval (in seconds) that the PATROL Console will give the PATROL Agent to respond to a connection verification before deciding that the agent connection is down. The number of message retries multiplied by message time-out is the

Glossary 309


approximate time allowed for a connection verification. See also heartbeat, heartbeat interval, message retries, and reconnect polling.

message windowA window that displays command output and error messages from the PATROL Console graphical user interface. See also response window, system output window, and task output window.

multigraph containerA custom object into which you can drop parameter objects to be plotted as charts. See also PATROL Console Charting Server.

Nnotification

An action in response to a PATROL event. Notifications can include pages, emails, trouble tickets, and pop-up windows.

Oobject

A computer class, computer instance, application class, application instance, parameter, or container (folder) in an environment managed by PATROL. Objects have properties and are assigned attributes (command types, parameters, menu commands, InfoBox commands, setup commands, state change actions, and environment variables). Parameter objects use data collection commands to obtain values from classes and instances. See also object class, object hierarchy, object icon, and object window.

object classA computer class or application class. See also class, object, and object hierarchy.

object hierarchyThe structure of object levels in PATROL. On the PATROL interface, computers contain application folders (containers) representing a loaded KM, application folders contain one or more application instances, and application instances contain parameters.

object iconA graphic that represents a computer instance, application class, application instance, parameter, or container (folder) in an environment managed by PATROL. See also object, object hierarchy, and object window.

object windowAn open object container (folder) that may contain application class icons, application instance icons, parameter icons, custom containers (folders), and shortcuts. The object window is displayed when you double-click the object icon. See also application instance, computer instance, object, and object icon.



operator modeAn operational mode of the PATROL Console that can be used to monitor and manage computer instances and application instances but not to customize or create KMs, commands, and parameters. See also PATROL Console.

operating system accountAn account that is set up at installation to grant the PATROL Agent access to a computer. Operating system commands executed by the PATROL Agent and PATROL Console use this account. The PATROL Agent configuration specifies a default operating system account, which can be changed.

override a parameterTo disable or change the behavior of a local PATROL application parameter. The changes to the parameter are local to the managed system running the parameter and are stored in the agent configuration database. You must be granted specific permissions by a PATROL Administrator through the PATROL User Roles file in order to override parameters. Override a parameter is replaced by customize a parameter in PATROL 7.x. See also PATROL roles.

Pparameter

The monitoring element of PATROL. Parameters are run by the PATROL Agent; they periodically use data collection commands to obtain data on a system resource and then parse, process, and store that data on the computer that is running the PATROL Agent. Parameters can display data in various formats, such as numeric, text, stoplight, and Boolean. Parameter data can be accessed from a PATROL Console, PATROLVIEW, or an SNMP console. Parameters have thresholds and can trigger warnings and alarms. If the value returned by the parameter triggers a warning or an alarm, the PATROL Agent notifies the PATROL Console and runs any recovery actions associated with the parameter. See also parameter history repository and parameter state.

parameter cacheThe memory location where current parameter data is kept. In the PATROL Agent's configuration file, you can set the size of the cache, the maximum number of data points that can be stored, and the interval (in seconds) for emptying the cache.

parameter history repositoryAlso known as parameter history file. See history repository.

parameter overrideSee override a parameter.

parameter stateThe condition of a parameter. The most common parameter states are OK, warning, and alarm. In PATROL 3.x and earlier, a parameter icon can show additional conditions that include no history, offline, and suspended. In PATROL 7.x, the suspended state is shown in the label—for

Glossary 311


example, MyParam (suspended)—rather than in the icon. A parameter can also be deactivated; when a parameter is deactivated, no icon is displayed. See also state.

PATROL AgentThe core component of PATROL architecture. The agent is used to monitor and manage host computers and can communicate with the PATROL Console, a stand-alone event manager (PEM), PATROLVIEW, and SNMP consoles. From the command line, the PATROL Agent is configured by the pconfig utility; from a graphical user interface, it is configured by the xpconfig utility for UNIX or the wpconfig utility for Windows. See also PATROL SNMP Master Agent.

PATROL Agent configuration fileA file in which you can define the characteristics of the PATROL Agent by setting PATROL Agent configuration variables. You can edit the configuration file by using the pconfig utility, the wpconfig utility, or the xpconfig utility. See also KM configuration file, PATROL Agent configuration variable, pconfig, wpconfig, and xpconfig.

PATROL Agent configuration variableThe means by which the characteristics of a PATROL Agent are defined. PATROL provides default variable values that can be customized. Configuration variables determine such characteristics as how errors are handled, which KMs are loaded and how, how SNMP support is configured, and how events trigger SNMP traps. See also PATROL Agent configuration file.

PATROL Agent ManagerA feature of PATROL for Microsoft Windows only. The graphical user interface used to install and run the PATROL Agent.

PATROL Agent namespaceA memory array that contains an internal representation of the PATROL object hierarchy. Values in the agent namespace are available to PSL scripts, eliminating the need to develop code to collect this data.

PATROL Agent process cacheA snapshot of the operating system process table on a monitored computer. The agent process cache is updated periodically.

PATROL Agent process cache refreshA periodic process of the PATROL Agent that issues a platform-dependent system query to obtain a list of the active processes. This data is used to update the PATROL Agent process cache.

PATROL Agent run queueA time-ordered schedule of actions, such as application discovery and parameter execution, to be carried out by the PATROL Agent. See also PSL run queue.



PATROL Command Line Interface (CLI)An interface program that you can access from the command line of a monitored computer and through which you can run some PATROL products and utilities. With the CLI, you can monitor the state of PATROL Agents remotely, execute PSL functions, and query and control events. The CLI is used in place of the PATROL Console when memory and performance constraints exist.

PATROL ConsoleThe graphical user interface from which you launch commands and manage the environment monitored by PATROL. The PATROL Console displays all of the monitored computer instances and application instances as icons. It also interacts with the PATROL Agent and runs commands and tasks on each monitored computer. The dialog is event-driven so that messages reach the PATROL Console only when a specific event causes a state change on the monitored computer.

A PATROL Console with developer functionality can monitor and manage computer instances, application instances, and parameters; customize, create, and delete locally loaded Knowledge Modules and commit these changes to selected PATROL Agent computers; add, modify, or delete event classes and commands in the Standard Event Catalog; and define expert advice. A PATROL Console with operator functionality can monitor and manage computer instances, application instances, and parameters and can view expert advice but not customize or create KMs, commands, and parameters. See also developer mode and operator mode.

PATROL Console Charting ServerA PATROL function that creates charts and graphs of actual values returned by more than one parameter. Charts and graphs are created by dragging and dropping various parameters into a multigraph container (folder) and plotting the results into a chart. Parameter data is plotted either in real time or from history sets and can be presented in a number of chart styles, including line graphs, pie charts, 3-D bar charts, and area plots. Charts can be viewed through the PATROL Console and printed to a local printer or PostScript file.

PATROL Enterprise Manager (PATROL EM)An event management system that gathers, filters, translates, and prioritizes messages from the managed systems in an enterprise and displays them as alerts in a single console. The PATROL EM consolidates alerts from different vendors and different geographical locations into a single display for fast identification and resolution of potential problems.

PATROL Event Manager (PEM)An event manager that you can use to view and manage events that occur on monitored system resources and that are sent by PATROL Agents. You can access the PEM from the PATROL Console or use it as a stand-alone facility. It works with the PATROL Agent and user-specified filters to provide a customized view of events. See also event manager.

PATROL History Loader KM A PATROL utility used to convert PATROL parameter history data into an ASCII data file or to store parameter history data directly into a particular relational database management system.

Glossary 313


PATROLVIEWFormerly PATROLVIEW or PATROLINK. Products that can be used to view events and to monitor and display all the parameters provided by the PATROL Agents and KMs in a network or enterprise management console.

PATROL KMDS See PATROL Knowledge Module Deployment Server (PATROL KMDS).

PATROL KMDS ManagerSee PATROL Knowledge Module Deployment Server Manager (PATROL KMDS Manager).

PATROL KM Migrator A PATROL utility used to propagate KM user customizations to newly released versions of PATROL Knowledge Modules.

PATROL Knowledge Module Deployment Server (PATROL KMDS)The change and version control tool for KMs. A repository for storage of PATROL KMs and changes to those KMs.

PATROL Knowledge Module Deployment Server Manager (PATROL KMDS Manager)The graphical interface for the PATROL KMDS that can be used to manage and deploy or distribute KM changes in the production environment.

PATROL rolesIn PATROL 3.x and earlier, a set of permissions that grant or remove the ability of a PATROL Console or PATROL Agent to perform certain functions. PATROL roles are defined in the PATROL User Roles file, which is read when the console starts.

PATROL Script Language (PSL)A scripting language (similar to Java) that is used for generic system management and that is compiled and executed on a virtual machine running inside the PATROL Agent. PSL is used for writing application discovery procedures, parameters, recovery actions, commands, and tasks for monitored computers within the PATROL environment.

PATROL SNMP Master AgentThe agent through which a PATROL Agent interacts with an SNMP agent and SNMP manager. The PATROL Master Agent configuration file contains the community name and port number for all agents in such a multiple-agent architecture.

patroldevIn PATROL 3.x and earlier, a domain group that can be set up by a Windows system administrator to restrict user access to a PATROL Developer Console. When a user tries to start a PATROL Console with developer functionality, PATROL checks whether the user is in the patroldev group. If the user is not in the group, a PATROL Console with operator functionality is started instead. See also ptrldev.



pconfigThe command line utility for setting PATROL Agent configuration variables. See also PATROL Agent configuration file, PATROL Agent configuration variable, wpconfig, and xpconfig.

PEMSee PATROL Event Manager (PEM).

periodic schedulingA kind of scheduling that starts a parameter at a certain time and reruns the parameter at certain intervals. See also event-driven scheduling.

persistent filterA filter maintained by the PATROL Agent for each PATROL Console or event manager that connects to it. The filter is used to minimize network traffic by limiting the number and types of events that are forwarded from a PATROL Agent to a PATROL Console or an event manager (PEM).

polling cycleThe schedule on which a parameter starts running and the intervals at which it reruns; the cycle is expressed in seconds. See also event-driven scheduling and periodic scheduling.

pop-up menuThe menu of commands for a monitored object; the menu is accessed by right-clicking the object.

prediscoveryA quick one-time test written in PSL to determine whether a resource that you want to monitor is installed or running on a monitored computer. If the results are affirmative, the PATROL Agent runs the discovery script. Prediscovery helps reduce PATROL Agent processing requirements.

preloaded KMA KM that is loaded by the PATROL Agent at startup and run as long as the agent runs. See also disable an application, disable a KM and static KM.

process cache refreshSee PATROL Agent process cache refresh.

propertyA characteristic or attribute of an object, such as its icon.

PSLSee PATROL Script Language (PSL).

PSL CompilerA PATROL utility that compiles PSL scripts into a binary byte code that can be executed by the PSL virtual machine. The PSL Compiler can also be used to check a PSL script for syntax errors.

Glossary 315


The compiler is embedded in the PATROL Agent and PATROL Console (PATROL 3.x and earlier) and can also be run as a command-line utility.

PSL DebuggerA PATROL Console utility that is used to debug PSL scripts. The PSL debugger is accessed through a computer's pop-up menu.

PSL discoveryA type of application discovery in which the discovery rules are defined by using PSL. PSL discovery can consist of prediscovery and discovery PSL scripts.

PSL ProfilerA PATROL utility that is used to tune the CPU usage and minimize child processes or file operations of a newly created KM. When the PSL Profiler is enabled, the PATROL Agent starts accumulating and recording profile statistics.

PSL run queueA queue of the currently executing PSL processes. The PSL run queue is used to distribute processing time between PSL processes in a round-robin fashion.

ptrldevIn PATROL 3.x and earlier, a form of patroldev that can be used in environments that support domain names no larger than eight characters. See also patroldev.

QQuick Query

In PATROL 3.x and earlier, a command on the Tools menu from the PATROL Console main menu bar that contains built-in predefined commands that you can use to query the agent for frequently needed information. For example, you can query the agent regularly about all computer instances, application instances, and parameters that are in a warning or alarm state. See also Agent Query.

Rreconnect polling

The time interval (in seconds) at which the PATROL Console will try to reconnect to a PATROL Agent that has dropped the previous connection. The longer the interval, the lower the network traffic. See also heartbeat, heartbeat interval, message retries, message time-out.

recovery actionA procedure that attempts to fix a problem that caused a warning or alarm condition. A recovery action is defined within a parameter by a user or by PATROL and triggered when the returned parameter value falls within a defined alarm range.



refresh parameterAn action that forces the PATROL Agent to run one or more parameters immediately, regardless of their polling cycle. Refreshing does not reset the polling cycle but gathers a new data point between polling cycles. Refresh parameter is also called “update” in PATROL 7.x.

reporting filterThe filter used by the PATROL Agent when transmitting events to consoles (event cache) from the event repository (located at the agent) for statistical reports.

response windowAn input and output display for many KM menu commands that provides a customizable layout of the information (for example, the sort method for outputting system process IDs). See also system output window and task output window.

ruleAn individual configuration item or variable.

RuleSetA collection of rules or configuration items.

run queueSee PATROL Agent run queue.

Sself-polling parameter

A standard parameter that starts a process that runs indefinitely. The started process periodically polls the resource that it is monitoring and emits a value that is captured by the PATROL Agent and published as the parameter value. Self-polling avoids the overhead of frequently starting external processes to collect a monitored value. A self-polling parameter differs from most other parameters that run scripts for a short time and then terminate until the next poll time.

session fileIn PATROL 3.x and earlier, any of the files that are saved when changes are made and saved during the current PATROL Console session. A session file includes the session-1.km file, which contains changes to KMs loaded on your console, and the session-1.prefs file, which contains user preferences. Session files are replaced by management profiles in PATROL 7.x.

setup commandA command that is initiated by the PATROL Console and run by the PATROL Agent when the PATROL Console connects or reconnects to the agent. For example, a setup command can initialize an application log file to prepare it for monitoring. PATROL provides some setup commands for computer classes. Only a PATROL Console with developer functionality can add or change setup commands.

Glossary 317


shortcutAn alias or copy of an object icon in the PATROL hierarchy.

simple discoveryA type of application discovery that uses simple pattern matching for identifying and monitoring files and processes.

SNMPSee Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)A communications protocol that is supported by the PATROL Agent. SNMP allows network management systems to access PATROL Agents and allows PATROL Agents to monitor and manage SNMP devices.

SNMP trapA condition which, when satisfied, results in an SNMP agent issuing a trap message to other SNMP agents and clients. Within the PATROL Agent, all events can be translated to SNMP traps and forwarded to SNMP managers.

snooze an alarmTo temporarily suspend an alarm so that a parameter does not exhibit an alarm state. During the user-set snooze period, the parameter continues to run commands and recovery actions, and the parameter icon appears to be in an OK state. See also deactivate a parameter and suspend a parameter.

Standard Event Catalog A PATROL-provided collection of predefined event classes for all computer classes and application classes. To add, modify, or delete event classes and commands in the Standard Event Catalog, you must use a PATROL Console with developer functionality. See also event catalog and event class.

standard parameterA type of parameter that collects and displays data and can also execute commands. A standard parameter is like a collector parameter and consumer parameter combined. See also collector parameter, consumer parameter, and parameter.

startup commandSee setup command.

stateThe condition of an object (computer instance, application instance, or parameter) monitored by PATROL. The most common states are OK, warning, and alarm. Object icons can show additional conditions. See also application state, computer state, parameter state, and state change action.



state BooleanA parameter output style that represents the on or yes state of a monitored object as a check mark and the off or no state as the letter x. Parameters with this output style can have alerts (warning and alarm) and recovery actions. Numeric data output for the monitored object can be displayed as a graph. See also stoplight.

state change actionAn action that is stored, maintained, and initiated by the PATROL Console when the console is notified by the PATROL Agent that a monitored object has changed state. The action, or command, executes on the computer on which the console is running, not the computer on which the agent is running.

static KMA KM that is not loaded by the PATROL Agent before a PATROL Console with a loaded KM of the same name connects to the agent. Once loaded by the agent, a static KM is never unloaded but continues to run as long as the agent runs, even if all PATROL Consoles with a registered interest disconnect from the PATROL Agent. If the PATROL Agent stops, static KMs will not be reloaded. See also disable an application, disable a KM and preloaded KM.

stoplightA parameter output style that displays OK, warning, and alarm states as green, yellow, and red lights, respectively, on a traffic light. Parameters with this output style can have alerts (warning and alarm) and recovery actions. Numeric data output for the monitored object can be displayed as a graph. See also state Boolean.

suspend a parameterTo stop running a parameter for selected computers or application instances. Suspending a parameter stops parameter commands and recovery actions but does not delete the parameter icon from the application instance window and does not delete the parameter definition from the KM tree in PATROL Consoles for Microsoft Windows environments. A suspended parameter can be resumed at any time. You can suspend a parameter from its pop-up menu. See also deactivate a parameter and snooze an alarm.

system output windowA message window that displays the output of commands and tasks that the PATROL Console or the PATROL Agent execute on an instance. The window also displays error messages, commit status messages, and so forth. When the system output window contains unread messages in PATROL 3.x and earlier, the instance icon displays a yellow triangle for Windows; for UNIX, it displays a blue screen with white text.

Ttask

A command or group of commands that can execute on one object or several objects simultaneously. A task runs in the background and is not part of the PATROL Agent run queue; a task icon is displayed for each running task.

Glossary 319


task output windowA window that contains command output generated by a task (for example, a KM menu command or a parameter warning or alarm). While executing, each task has its own icon, which usually appears in the PATROL interface or main window but may appear in an appropriate object window.

threshold A point or points that define a range of values, outside of which a parameter is considered to be in a warning or alarm range.

Uunload a KM

To delete a KM from a PATROL Console session in order to stop monitoring the KM-defined objects on all computers. The KM files are not deleted from the directories on the PATROL Console or the PATROL Agent computers, and the PATROL Agent will continue to run the KM, collect parameter data, and run recovery actions until no connected console has the KM loaded. To prevent the PATROL Agent computer from collecting parameter data and running recovery actions for a KM, disable the KM. If a KM has been flagged as static, then it will not be unloaded. See also disable an application, disable a KM, preloaded KM, and static KM.

User Datagram Protocol (UDP)In PATROL 3.x and earlier, a connectionless network protocol that allows the PATROL Console to connect to many agents simultaneously. TCP requires an open file for each connection, and the number of files that a process can have open is generally limited.

user preferencesThe PATROL Console settings that designate the account that you want to use to connect to monitored host computers, prevent a console with developer functionality from downloading its version of a KM to a PATROL Agent upon connection, disable the commit process for a console with developer functionality, determine certain window and icon display characteristics, specify the event cache size, and indicate whether startup and shutdown commands are enabled. A PATROL Console with either developer or operator functionality can change user preferences.

Vversion arbitration

In PATROL 3.x and earlier, the KM version comparison that PATROL makes when a PATROL Console connects to a PATROL Agent. By default, KM versions from PATROL Consoles with developer functionality are loaded rather than PATROL Agent KM versions, and PATROL Agent KM versions are loaded rather than KM versions from PATROL Consoles with operator functionality.

view filterA filter that can be created in an event manager (PEM) and that screens events forwarded from PATROL Agents. Views can be created, stored, and reapplied to host computers.



Wwarning

An indication that a parameter has returned a value that falls within the warning range. See also alarm.

wpconfigA feature of PATROL for Microsoft Windows only. The graphical user interface utility for setting PATROL Agent configuration variables. The wpconfig utility can be accessed from a computer pop-up menu on a computer running a PATROL Agent or a computer running a PATROL Console with developer functionality. See also PATROL Agent configuration file and PATROL Agent configuration variable.

Xxpconfig

A feature of PATROL for UNIX only. The graphical user interface utility for setting PATROL Agent configuration variables. You can access the xpconfig utility from an xterm session command line on a computer running a PATROL Agent or from a pop-up menu or an xterm session command line on a PATROL Console with developer functionality. See also PATROL Agent configuration file and PATROL Agent configuration variable.

Y

Z

Glossary 321


Symbols/AgentSetup/pconfigRequiresAuthentication 59/AS/EVENTSPRING/PARAM_SETTINGS/STATUSFLA

GS/paramSettingsStatusFlag 190

Aactivating

autosave for agent and group data 61statically linked RuleSets 151

active 242add

agent 74multiple agents using PATROL ping 78multiple agents using RT Server 76PATROL object 196

addingagent 74missing Rule Alias 167

agentadd 74autosaving data 61backup configuration 145change default account 89configuration, definition 17delete 82discovery method 76discovery results 76discovery type 76find within configuration manager 84finding LinkedRuleSets assigned to 98locating backup configuration 98locking 96organize into groups 81purge configuration 88reinitialize 86reload configuration 87restart 86restore configuration 147restore configuration to default values 88search for within configuration manager 84setting default values 73stop 85update PATROL license 93

agent configurationscompare 123

agent repository 19agent_default_seclevel 273agents

add multiple using PATROL ping 78

add multiple using RT Server 76alarm range 1

define 179threshold 171turn off 255

alarm range 2 171define 179turn off 255

alarm state 171Alarm1 and Alarm2 alert ranges 171alert 201

manage 201resend 203set up notification for 201settings 195suppress false alerts at restart 205

Alert Messagesvariables 227

alert settings 189requirement of PATROL KM for Event Management

19alertSystem 222application class

monitor 209application class name 229application instance name 230apply

RuleSet after all other RuleSets 155RuleSet to new agents 152

ApplyOnApply 148activate 155order of operation 115scope 149storage 149

ApplyOnNew 148activate 151, 152deactivate 151precedence 149scope 149storage 149

applyonnew_active 273arsAction 210

323


AS_CHANGESPRING 211convert parameter overrides to RuleSets 254create default RuleSet 251create RuleSet from CSV file 253features 242get all parameters 247get global parameters 249get global poll times 250get localized parameters 247limitation 242load 243requirements 242RuleSet location 246RuleSet naming convention 246turn off alarm range 255

AS_CHANGESPRING KM 185, 242AS_CHANGESPRING.km 243assign

custom identifier to PATROL objects 207RuleSets to agents 122

authenticate_agent_configuration 273authenticate_agent_configuration_check 274authentication 70

dependencies 72generating report 71report 102retrieving objects from agents 71setting default 59success or failure 59usage 71using secure pconfig 71

authentication credentials 91authreq 92, 274autosave

activating 61autosave_enabled 274autosaved_enabled 95

BBackup 141backup

configuration of agent 145configuration settings 52initialization (.ini) file 33

backup agent configurations 20backup configuration

locating for agent 98backup files

location of 40backup RuleSet

definition 40format 40naming convention 40

backup rulesetpath 40


backup_before_apply 274backup_dir 40, 274backup_folder_groups 274backup_folder_min 274backup_identical_configurations 275backups

number of .ini files 60backups_saved 275batch program 222bin_dir 275blackout

difference from override 191notification 233

blackout period 235blackouts 189BMC Software, contacting 2border range

define 179threshold 171

Cchange

PATROL default account 89ChangeSpring.ini 272colors

changing in GUI 63commands

Custom Identifiers 207Recovery Action Command 213Recovery Action Command Type 211Send Reset On Init 205

comment filedefinition 44format 44naming convention 44path 44

comment fileslocation of 44

comments_dir 44, 275communicate 278compare

agent configurations 123RuleSet 123RuleSets 123

componentsPATROL Configuration Manager 19

config.default 17


configurationbackup 145default 17definition 17, 114get 142get with defaults 142locating backup for agent 98order of operation 115PATROL database 16purge 146restore 147share among users 66variable, definition 17

configuration filecreate new 34import PATROL Console 256open 34

configuration settingsbackup 52GUI 62transaction 54virtual backup folder 55

configuration values 272configuration variable

backup_dir 40comments_dir 44definition 17errorfile 48images_dir 43ini_dir 36local_dir 49logfile 47paramSettingStatusFlag 190queue_dir 42ruleset_dir 37tlog_dir 39

configurationscompare 123

convertparameter override to RuleSet 254PATROL Console Desktop settings to ini files 257

Convert Overrides to EVS 245, 254copy

rule 128RuleSet 117RuleSet folder 117

CPU usage 280create

default RuleSet 251group 81local RuleSet 139rule 126RuleSet 118RuleSet folder 118RuleSet from CSV file 253RuleSet from existing RuleSet 119

Create a RuleSet 248Create a Ruleset with all parameters 247Create files for patrol_dir 245, 251Create Ruleset for config.default 245Create Ruleset from CSV File 245, 253csmi 242, 256csmi.bat 257csmi.csh 257custom identifier 208, 230customer support 3customizing

GUI 64

Ddatabase

PATROL Configuration 16date of alert 230deactivating

statically linked RuleSets 151debuglevel 275debugloglevel 275debugwindow 275default

initialization (.ini) file 33define

border and alarm ranges 179poll time 180recovery action command 213recovery action type 211report 104

definingRule Alias 164

definition 170backup RuleSet 40comment file 44configuration 17, 114configuration variable 17error files 48image files 43localization file 49log files 46queue file 42rule 16, 114Rule Alias 114RuleSet 16, 114statically linked RuleSet

17transaction log 38

deleteagent 82group 83rule 133RuleSet 121

designateRuleSet to update automatically 156

325


desktop files 256disable

notification 231discover

agents using PATROL ping 78agents using RT Server 76

discover agentsresults 76

discovery 210discovery method

for agents 76PATROL ping 76RT server 76

discovery_burst_delay 275discovery_max_burst_packets 275discovery_tcp_ignore_connect_timeout 275documentation

PATROL Security User Guide 91duplicate

rule 128

Eedit

rule 129RuleSet 121, 140

e-mail 222enable

recovery action 210error file

format 48naming convention 48path 48

error filesdefinition 48location of 48

error messages 276errorfile 48, 276ess_bin_dir 276ess_jar_path 276establish

threshold 174event catalog 231event class 231event ID 230event id 231Event Management 189Event Management rules 131event severity 231event status 231event type 231evs_menu 276


Ffailover 66file

comment 44configuration, new 34configuration, open 34default configuration 17error 48image 43initialization See configuration filelocalization 49log 46queue 42report, save to 108

filesbackup, storage 40comment, storage 44error, storage 48image, storage 43initialization, storage 36localized RuleSet, storage 49log, storage 46number of .ini backups 60queue, storage 42RuleSet, storage 37transaction, storage 38

findagent within configuration manager 84agents using PATROL ping 78agents using RT Server 76rule in PATROL Configuration Manager 133

firewall 278fonts

changing in GUI 63format

backup RuleSet 40comment file 44error file 48image files 43localization file 49log file 46queue file 42report 101transaction log 38variable name 127

full discovery 210

Ggarbage_collect_after_pconfig 276generate

report 104


getall parameters 247configuration 142configuration with defaults 142global parameters 249global poll times 250localized parameters 247

Get Global Parameters 245, 249Get Global Polltimes 245, 250Get Localized Parameters 245graphical user interface

PATROL Configuration Manager 22group

autosaving data 61create 81delete 83locking 96naming convention 81, 82organize agents 81properties 82

groups.ini 36, 276GUI

changing colors/fonts 63configuration settings 62controls 22PATROL Configuration Manager 19, 22

Hhelp_dir 276hostname 229

Iimage files

definition 43format 43location of 43naming convention 43path 43

images_dir 43, 276import

PATROL Console configuration file 256RuleSet into PATROL Configuration Manager 186

InfoBoxes 244ini file

backup 33default 33

ini filesconvert PATROL Console Desktop settings to 257

ini_dir 36, 276init 206initialization file

backup 33default 33

initialization file See configuration fileinitialization files

location of 36number of backups 60

install_dir 276instance icon name 230

Jjob status

diagnostics 29viewer 28

job status informationdialog box 28log file 29

Kkeep_report_data 276km

plug-in 20KM Commands 244knowledge module

AS_CHANGESPRING 242migration 246plug-in 20

LLinkedRuleSet

precedence 149scope 149

LinkedRuleSets 148activate 151assign 156deactivate 151finding associations with agents 161storage 149

listening port 229Load 243load

AS_CHANGESPRING 243local 140local notification 226local_dir 49, 276localization file

definition 49format 49naming convention 49path 49

localized rulesreporting, default 58

localized RuleSet fileslocation of 49

327


locateagent within configuration manager 84agents using PATROL ping 78agents using RT Server 76rule in PATROL Configuration Manager 133

locationof RuleSets created by AS_CHANGESPRING 246

lockRuleSet 122

lock_check_timer 276locking

agent and groups 96locking_max_retries 277locking_retry_wait 277locks

status of 97types of 96

logtransaction 38

log fileformat 46naming convention 46path 46viewing from job status 29

log filesdefinition 46location of 46

logfile 47, 277

Mmanage

alert 201notifications from 222Secure KeyStore password 91, 92

managed systems 19max_agents_per_report_thread 277max_config_file_lines 277max_folder_length 277max_ini_backups 277max_path_length 277maximum folders 55memory allocation

change on UNIX 102change on Windows 103

memory usagereport 102

messagecustom and dynamic 227length limitations 227reword notification 226variables 229

message rewording 189message_max_lines 277message_truncate_lines 277migration


knowledge module 246monitor

application class 209move

RuleSet 117RuleSet folder 117

Nnaming convention

backup RuleSet 40comment file 44error file 48for a RuleSet created by AS_CHANGESPRING 246group 81, 82image files 43localization file 49log file 46pconfig variable 127queue file 42RuleSets created by AS_CHANGESPRING 246transaction log 38

new configuration file 34new rule 126notification

blackout 233command 219disable 231message length limitations 227message variables 229message, custom and dynamic 227message, reword 226prerequisites 190rules stored as pconfig variables 189set up for alerts 201set up order 193stop for a specific period 233system 222system, types of 223targets 217test 236test limitations 237type 219

notification type 20, 219

Oobject 20

PATROL, add 196PATROL, assign custom identifiers to 207PATROL, remove 198update list of PATROL 251update PATROL 191

objectsPATROL 191


openconfiguration file 34

operations 127order of operation

ApplyOnApply 115configuration 115rule 115RuleSet 115

originating event 231override

difference from blackout 191

Pparameter

get all 247get global 249get global poll times 250get localized 247poll time 173retrieve settings and save as RuleSets 184threshold 170

parameter alert rangesalarm1 171alarm2 171border 171

parameter name 230parameter settings

requirement of PATROL KM for Event Management 19

parameter settings stored as 184parameter status 230parameter timestamps 230parameter value 230parameter values 230paramSettingStatusFlag

configuration variable 190parent instance name 230password

remove from Secure KeyStore 93store in Secure KeyStore 92

password managementsecure keystore 91

path 214, 216PATROL

object list, update 251object, update list of 191objects 191objects, assign customer identifiers to 207

PATROL Configuration Database 16PATROL Configuration Manager

components 19customizing GUI 64graphical user interface 19, 22GUI controls 22import RuleSet into 186

PATROL Configuration Manager initialization file 277PATROL default account

change 89PATROL Documentation

PATROL Security User Guide 91PATROL KM for Event Management 19

requirement 19PATROL license

update 93PATROL objects 278PATROL ping

discovery method 76patrol_dir 278pconfig 16pconfig_debug_mode 278pconfig_local_port 278pconfig_use_strict 278permissions

report 103pexec_args 278pexec_debug_mode 278pexec_timeout 278pexec_trace_mode 279plug-ins

knowledge module 20poll time 173

get global 250set 180

polling time 203precedence

ApplyOnNew 149LinkedRuleSets 149rule or km value 190

predefinedRule Aliases 164

pre-discovery 210prerequisites

notification 190print

report 104product support 3properties

group 82PSL 213, 220purge

agent configuration 88automated task 141configuration 146

329


Qqueue file


queue fileslocation of 42

queue_dir 42, 279

Rrecover action

define command 213recovery action 216

define type 211enable 210scope of command and types 211

recovery actions 203register

agent 74multiple agents using PATROL ping 78multiple agents using RT Server 76

reinitializeagent 86

reloadagent configuration 87

remote notification 226remove

agent See delete, agentgroup See delete, groupPATROL object 198

reportauthentication 102define 104format 101generate 104limitations 101memory usage 102permissions 103printing 104save to file 108source of information 100view online 107

report_local_overwrite 279reporting localized rules

setting default 58reports_dir 279requirement

PATROL KM for Event Management 19requirements

AS_CHANGESPRING 242resend 203, 205

alert 203restart


agent 86restore

configuration 147retrieve

parameter settings to save as RuleSets 184reword 229

notification message 226RT server

discovery method 76locator string 77

rt_servers 279rule

benefits 115copy 128create 126definition 16, 114delete 133duplicate 128edit 129locate in PATROL Configuration Manager 133notification, stored as pconfig variables 189order of operation 115precedence over KM values 190protect using local RuleSets 137search for in PATROL Configuration Manager 134

Rule Aliasadd missing 167defining 164definition 114missing 166predefined 164storage 164view missing 166

rules 131rules and RuleSets 20rules repository 19, 20


RuleSet 184apply after all other RuleSets 155apply to new agents 152assign to agents 122backup 40benefits 115compare 123convert parameter overrides to 254copy 117create 118create default 251create from CSV file 253create from existing RuleSet 119create local 139definition 16, 114delete 121edit 121edit local 140import into PATROL Configuration Manager 186local, characteristics 137lock 122move 117naming convention of AS_CHANGESPRING 246order of operation 115protect rule using local 137save parameter settings as 185share 122update automatically 156

RuleSet fileslocation of 37

RuleSet foldercopy 117create 118move 117

ruleset_dir 37, 276, 279ruleset_max_search_results 279ruleset_search_items_file 279RuleSets

compare 123local 137location created by AS_CHANGESPRING 246naming convention created by AS_CHANGESPRING

246save Backup before applying 52

ruleval_max_length 279

Ssave

parameter settings as RuleSet 185report to file 108

scopeApplyOnApply 149ApplyOnNew 149LinkedRuleSets 149recovery action commands and types 211

script 221search

rule in PATROL Configuration Manager 133search for

agents using PATROL ping 78agents using RT Server 76

search_sleep_delay 280search_sleep_interval 280seclevel 70Secure KeyStore 91

password 91, 92security 70security level

default 70dependencies 71storage 70

security levels 70set

notification 201poll time 180precedence for rule or km value 190

setting defaultsagent 73

setting number of backup .ini files 60settings

alert 195share

configuration of PATROL Configuration Manager 66RuleSet 122

shell script 222simulate 237single thread 278specifying

individual agent 74sslcmd 91, 92statically linked rule sets

rule setsstatically linked 114

status 203stop

agent 85notification 233

storageApplyOnApply 149ApplyOnNew 149LinkedRuleSets 149Rule Alias 164

support, customer 3suppress

false alerts at restart 205

Ttargets 219

notification 217

331


taskautomated purge 141

technical support 3test

notification 236threads_delay 280threads_max 280threshold 170, 171

alarm range 1 171alarm range 2 171border range 171definition 170establish 174

time of alert 230time zone 230tips_file 280tips_file_custom 280tlog_dir 39, 280tooltips_activate 280transaction

configuration settings 54transaction files

location of 38transaction history 20transaction log


transactions_saved 281turn off

alarm range 255Turn Off Alarm Ranges 245, 255

Uupdate

PATROL license 93PATROL object list 191, 251

user credentials 91user interface 19username

remove from Secure KeyStore 93store in Secure KeyStore 92

utilitysecurity 91, 92

utils_dir 281

Vvalues 127variable

configuration, definition 17name format 127paramSettingStatusFlag 190


variables 127, 229Alert Messages 227

version 231view

online report 107viewing

log file from job status 29virtual backup folder

configuration settings 55

Wwarning state 171What If 189whatif.cfg 236

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Notes

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