IBM Tivoli Monitoring > Version 6.3 Fix Pack 2 > Administrator's Guide > Maintaining monitoring agents > Self-describing monitoring agents

IBM Tivoli Monitoring, Version 6.3 Fix Pack 2

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Self-describing event flow at the monitoring server

The automated event flow for a self-describing agent differs if the agent is connected to a hub monitoring server or a remote monitoring server.

Self-describing agent connected to the hub monitoring server

The following steps outline the event flow of a self-describing agent connecting to the hub monitoring server:

1. The self-describing agent manager of the hub monitoring server determines whether the version of the application support for the product is already installed on the hub monitoring server. If the application support version for the product is not already installed, the hub monitoring server retrieves the support files from the agent.

2. The hub monitoring server begins the self-describing agent product installation and dynamic refresh of the monitoring server internal product definition structures. The completion status of the installation of this hub monitoring server self-describing agent is recorded in the following locations:

   • The local Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server application properties table.

   • Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server audit log facility.

   • Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server MSG2 log facility.

   • Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server RAS1 log.

   • On distributed Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server platforms, the self-describing agent installation program log files are installsdsupport_*.trc and installsdsupport_*.log. On Windows computers, the logs are in the install_dir\logs directory. On Linux and UNIX computers, the logs are in the install_dir/logs directory.

3. After the hub monitoring server product installation completes successfully, any Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server process that is running and connected to the hub monitoring server is notified of the new or updated product support.

   In an environment enabled for Hot Standby (FTO), self-describing configuration data is replicated to the standby hub monitoring server. The standby hub monitoring server does not support direct connections from agents for a remote monitoring server, which means self-describing installations cannot initiate directly to the standby hub. Self-describing installations are initiated at the standby hub by the acting hub, after the acting hub completes the self-describing installation. The self-describing installation process at the standby hub retrieves the product support files from the acting hub. For more information about an FTO environment, see the IBM Tivoli Monitoring High Availability Guide for Distributed Systems.

4. The Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server performs the same basic steps as performed by the hub monitoring server. It determines if the version of the product is already installed on the Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server. However, it retrieves the product support files directly from the hub monitoring server and not from the connected agent.

5. The Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server begins the self-describing agent product installation and dynamic refresh of the portal server internal product definition structures.

6. The Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server notifies any running Tivoli Enterprise Portal Browser Client and Tivoli Enterprise Portal Desktop Client that new or updated product support is available. The completion status of this Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server self-describing agent product installation is recorded in the following locations:

   • Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server audit log facility.

   • Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server RAS1 log.

   • The Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server self-describing agent installation program log files installsdsupport_*.trc and installsdsupport_*.log. On Windows computers, the logs are in the install_dir\logs directory. On Linux/UNIX computers, the logs are in the install_dir/logs directory.

Self-describing agent connected to the remote monitoring server

The following steps outline the event flow of a self-describing agent connecting to the remote monitoring server:

1. The self-describing agent manager of the remote monitoring server ensures that the product was first installed on the hub monitoring server.

2. If the product was not first installed on the hub monitoring server, the remote monitoring server tells the hub monitoring server to install the product first.

3. After the hub monitoring server installation is complete, the remote monitoring server determines if the product is installed locally on this monitoring server.

4. The remote monitoring server product installation occurs in the same way as described for the hub monitoring server.

5. If the hub monitoring server product installation fails for any reason, the remote monitoring server does not install the product.

The monitoring server does not allow all other failed self-describing agent installation requests to be tried again until the existing monitoring server error condition is corrected and the failed self-describing agent product installation records are removed from the monitoring server application properties table. See Self-describing agent installation errors.

• The availability of the self-describing agent feature on a hub monitoring server can influence the availability of the feature on a remote monitoring server. An error message is displayed when a self-describing agent error on a hub monitoring server causes the self-describing agent feature to be disabled on the remote monitoring server connected to that hub. For more information about the error messages, see the Troubleshooting Guide.

• After the self-describing agent error is fixed on the hub monitoring server, the remote monitoring server detects, at the next reconnection to the hub, that the self-describing agent feature is available on the hub. As a result, it re-enables the self-describing agent locally on the remote monitoring server.

Changes detected by the monitoring server at startup

The Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server detects the following information during startup:

• Products installed manually, for example applications that were not installed using the self-describing capability.

• Manual updates (catalog and version file changes) to installed products, for example user-initiated product changes that happen outside of a self-describing agent installation.

• Failed self-describing agent installations.

The Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server makes adjustments and corrections based upon the changes detected in installed products. Only products that have a valid monitoring server version file (VER file) are detected during startup. This process happens automatically when the self-describing agent installation manager is enabled on the monitoring server (KMS_SDA=Y). This function helps to maintain an accurate inventory of installed products and versions. If the self-describing agent installation manager is not enabled, this function does not run.

Parent topic:

Self-describing monitoring agents

Related tasks:

Suspend the self-describing capability
Enable or disable the self-describing capability at the monitoring server
Enable or disable the self-describing capability at the agent
Determine if agents are enabled for self-description

Related reference:

Environment variables that control the self-describing capability

Related information:

Self-describing agent installation
Self-describing auto refresh and seeding

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