Set up a basic monitoring environment without single sign-on and without per user authorization controls

IBM Tivoli Monitoring > Version 6.3 Fix Pack 2 > Administrator's Guide > Prepare your dashboard environment > Roadmaps
IBM Tivoli Monitoring, Version 6.3 Fix Pack 2

Set up a basic monitoring environment without single sign-on and without per user authorization controls

Setup a basic dashboard environment if you want to use IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub with monitoring dashboard applications such as IBM Infrastructure Management Dashboards for Servers and IBM Infrastructure Management Dashboards for VMware or with custom dashboards, without using single sign-on or authorization controls per user.
Your environment must meet the following requirements:

Your Dashboard Application Services Hub and Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server are not configured to use a federated LDAP user registry for user authentication.

Your dashboard users will not launch the Tivoli Enterprise Portal browser client from IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub pages, or if they do, they must provide their credentials when the browser client is started.

All of your dashboard users can be authorized to see the same managed systems and managed system groups in the monitoring dashboard pages.
If these requirements are not met in your environment, follow the steps for Set up a monitoring dashboard environment with single sign-on and with per user authorization controls.
You can also start with a basic dashboard environment to become familiar with IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub with monitoring dashboards and later add single sign-on and per user authorization by following the steps in Migrate a basic monitoring dashboard environment to a dashboard environment with single sign-on and per user authorization controls.
The Dashboard Application Services Hub uses a HTTP or HTTPS connection to the dashboard data provider component of the portal server to retrieve monitoring data. Real-time monitoring data is retrieved from the hub monitoring server and monitoring agents and historical monitoring data is retrieved from the Tivoli Data Warehouse. Not all monitoring dashboard applications support retrieving historical data from the Tivoli Data Warehouse.
You configure a dashboard data provider connection in the Dashboard Application Services Hub that specifies the hostname, protocol, port, username, and password of the portal server. The user ID configured for the data provider connection is included in all HTTP requests to the dashboard data provider instead of the user who is logged into Dashboard Application Services Hub and using a dashboard application. The connection user must be defined as a Tivoli Enterprise Portal user ID and be assigned the monitoring applications whose data will be displayed in monitoring dashboards. Dashboard Application Services Hub uses roles, for users or user groups, to control what pages a user can access. However, the dashboard data provider performs the authorization of the monitoring resources that are displayed in those pages. Because the dashboard data provider is only sent the credentials of the user configured for the data provider connection, it enforces the Tivoli Enterprise Portal permissions and monitoring application assignments of the connection user and not the dashboard users. For this reason, all monitoring dashboard users will see monitoring data from the same set of managed systems and managed system groups.

Prerequisites

Install and configure the base IBM Tivoli Monitoring monitoring server, portal server, and portal client components using the instructions in the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Installation and Setup Guide. When configuring the portal server, enable the dashboard data provider.

Install and configure the monitoring agents whose data will be displayed in the monitoring dashboards. Install their application support in the monitoring servers, portal server, and desktop portal client if it is being used, using the instructions in the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Installation and Setup Guide.

Install and configure Dashboard Application Services Hub, and your dashboard monitoring applications, see "Requirements for a dashboard environment" in the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Installation and Setup Guide. Also see "Installing and configuring the IBM Infrastructure Management Dashboards for Servers" in the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Installation and Setup Guide, if you will be installing that dashboard application.

Roadmap
Use the following roadmap to help you get started:

Roadmap for setting up a basic monitoring environment without single sign-on and without per user authorization controls

Step Description Where to find information
1 (required) Verify the dashboard data provider is enabled in your portal server configuration. For detailed steps, see "Verifying the dashboard data provider is enabled" in the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Installation and Setup Guide.
2 (required) Determine which Tivoli Enterprise Portal user should be configured for the dashboard data provider connection and ensure the user has this authorization:

The user must be assigned the monitoring applications whose data will be displayed in monitoring dashboards.

If your dashboard applications display situation events, the user must have permission to view situation events.

Administer Users and Manage user IDs
3 (required) Login to IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub as an administrative user and create a dashboard data provider connection that uses the HTTP protocol and does not require single sign-on configuration.
By default, the URL is http://hostname:port_number/ibm/console/. The default port number for HTTP is 16310 and for HTTPS is 16311. The default path to the server is /ibm/console. However, this path is configurable, and might differ from the default in your environment.
Create a connection to the IBM Tivoli Monitoring dashboard data provider
When creating your connection, do not select the box Use the credentials of the user (requires SSO Configuration).
4 (optional best practice) Login to IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub as an administrative user and create a role that controls access to your dashboard application pages and assign dashboard users or user groups to the role.
Some dashboard applications such as IBM Infrastructure Management for VMware automatically create a role for its pages when the dashboard application is installed. However, other dashboard applications such as IBM Infrastructure Management Dashboards for Servers do not create a role during installation so you must create one or assign the dashboard pages to an existing role.
Refer to the Jazz for Service Management Administrator's Guide in the Jazz for Service Management Information Center for details on how to work with roles that control access to dashboard pages.
5 (required) Login to IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub as a user who has permission to view your dashboard pages, launch the dashboard applications, and verify data is displayed. See your dashboard application's user guide for details on how to launch and use the dashboard.
Tip: First select System Status and Health > Dashboard Health Checks to verify your environment is working correctly. Then if you are using Infrastructure Management Dashboards for Servers, select System Status and Health > Server Dashboards.
For more information on using Infrastructure Management Dashboards for Servers, see the OS agent user's guides.
6 (optional) To use HTTPS between Dashboard Application Services Hub and the dashboard data provider, perform these tasks:
1. Configure TLS/SSL between the dashboard hub and data provider. Configure TLS/SSL communication between Dashboard Application Services Hub and the dashboard data provider
2. Login to IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub as an administrative user who has been assigned the administrator and iscadmins roles and delete the dashboard data provider connection that you previously created. Refer to the IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub online help and the Jazz for Service Management Integration Guide in the Jazz for Service Management Information Center for details on how to work with data provider connections.
3. While still logged into IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub as an administrative user, create the connection again and this time specify HTTPS as the protocol. Create a connection to the IBM Tivoli Monitoring dashboard data provider
When creating your connection, do not select the box Use the credentials of the user (requires SSO Configuration).
4. Login to IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub as a user who has permission to view your dashboard pages, then launch the dashboard application again and verify data is displayed. See your dashboard application's user guide for details on how to launch and use the dashboard.
Tip: First select System Status and Health > Dashboard Health Checks to verify your environment is working correctly. Then if you are using Infrastructure Management Dashboards for Servers, select System Status and Health > Server Dashboards.
For more information on using Infrastructure Management Dashboards for Servers, see the OS agent user's guides.

After you have the basic dashboard monitoring environment setup, you might also need to perform the following tasks:

Additional tasks required to setup your basic monitoring environment without single sign-on and without per user authorization controls

Task Where to find information
Create situation definitions for events that your dashboard users will monitor. See Situations for event monitoring in the Tivoli Enterprise Portal User's Guide and also see the Command Reference for information on the tacmd commands used to work with situations.
Create managed system groups that can be used to group managed systems for display in dashboard pages. See Manage the environment in the Tivoli Enterprise Portal User's Guide and also see the Command Reference for information on the tacmd commands used to work with system lists.
Configure historical data collection if you want to display historical data in your dashboard pages.
Not all monitoring dashboard applications support retrieving historical data from the Tivoli Data Warehouse.
Manage historical data
Authorize a new user or user group access to dashboard pages in Dashboard Application Services Hub. Refer to the Jazz for Service Management Administrator's Guide in the Jazz for Service Management Information Center for details on how to work with roles that control access to dashboard pages.
Tip: Best practice is to create a user group, add the users to the group, and then assign the group a Dashboard Application Services Hub role that has permission to view the appropriate dashboard pages.
For each dashboard user who will also use the Tivoli Enterprise Portal client, create a Tivoli Enterprise Portal user ID and assign it monitoring applications and any other permissions that they might require when using the portal client.
To launch the Tivoli Enterprise Portal client from Dashboard Application Services Hub, the user must be assigned either the Tivoli Enterprise Portal <All Application> or Tivoli Monitoring Server application. Otherwise, they might see the KFWITM388E message after performing the launch.
Administer Users and Manage user IDs
Create custom dashboard pages and ensure the dashboard users are assigned a Dashboard Application Services Hub role with permission to view the custom pages. Create custom dashboard pages that display monitoring data
Install a new monitoring dashboard application in Dashboard Application Services Hub, assign the dashboard's pages to a new or existing role, and assign users or user groups to the role that controls access to the pages.
If an HTTP server is being used with Dashboard Application Services Hub for load balancing, regenerate the web server plugin.
Verify the Tivoli Enterprise Portal user configured for the dashboard data provider connection is assigned the monitoring applications whose data will be displayed in the new dashboard application and is assigned view permission for events if the dashboard application displays situation event data.

The application support for the agent must be installed in the portal server and monitoring server before you can see the agent's data in the new dashboards.
Follow the dashboard application installation documentation.
Then, refer to the Jazz for Service Management Administrator's Guide in the Jazz for Service Management Information Center for details on how to work with roles that control access to dashboard pages.
If required, regenerate the web server plugin by following the steps in the "Generating the plugin-cfg.xml file" topic in the Jazz for Service Management Configuration Guide on the Jazz for Service Management Information Center.
Also see Administer Users for details on how to assign monitoring applications to a Tivoli Enterprise Portal user.
The IBM Tivoli Monitoring Installation and Setup Guide includes information on how to install application support.
Migrate from a basic dashboard environment to a dashboard environment with single sign-on and per user authorization. Migrate a basic monitoring dashboard environment to a dashboard environment with single sign-on and per user authorization controls
Determine if you want to control UISolutions imports. (New and updated dashboard applications automatically import their UISolutions definitions into the dashboard data provider.) Control UISolutions imports

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Step	Description	Where to find information
1 (required)	Verify the dashboard data provider is enabled in your portal server configuration.	For detailed steps, see "Verifying the dashboard data provider is enabled" in the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Installation and Setup Guide.
2 (required)	Determine which Tivoli Enterprise Portal user should be configured for the dashboard data provider connection and ensure the user has this authorization: The user must be assigned the monitoring applications whose data will be displayed in monitoring dashboards. If your dashboard applications display situation events, the user must have permission to view situation events.	Administer Users and Manage user IDs
3 (required)	Login to IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub as an administrative user and create a dashboard data provider connection that uses the HTTP protocol and does not require single sign-on configuration. By default, the URL is http://hostname:port_number/ibm/console/. The default port number for HTTP is 16310 and for HTTPS is 16311. The default path to the server is /ibm/console. However, this path is configurable, and might differ from the default in your environment.	Create a connection to the IBM Tivoli Monitoring dashboard data provider When creating your connection, do not select the box Use the credentials of the user (requires SSO Configuration).
4 (optional best practice)	Login to IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub as an administrative user and create a role that controls access to your dashboard application pages and assign dashboard users or user groups to the role. Some dashboard applications such as IBM Infrastructure Management for VMware automatically create a role for its pages when the dashboard application is installed. However, other dashboard applications such as IBM Infrastructure Management Dashboards for Servers do not create a role during installation so you must create one or assign the dashboard pages to an existing role.	Refer to the Jazz for Service Management Administrator's Guide in the Jazz for Service Management Information Center for details on how to work with roles that control access to dashboard pages.
5 (required)	Login to IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub as a user who has permission to view your dashboard pages, launch the dashboard applications, and verify data is displayed.	See your dashboard application's user guide for details on how to launch and use the dashboard. Tip: First select System Status and Health > Dashboard Health Checks to verify your environment is working correctly. Then if you are using Infrastructure Management Dashboards for Servers, select System Status and Health > Server Dashboards. For more information on using Infrastructure Management Dashboards for Servers, see the OS agent user's guides.
6 (optional)	To use HTTPS between Dashboard Application Services Hub and the dashboard data provider, perform these tasks:
1. Configure TLS/SSL between the dashboard hub and data provider.	Configure TLS/SSL communication between Dashboard Application Services Hub and the dashboard data provider
2. Login to IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub as an administrative user who has been assigned the administrator and iscadmins roles and delete the dashboard data provider connection that you previously created.	Refer to the IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub online help and the Jazz for Service Management Integration Guide in the Jazz for Service Management Information Center for details on how to work with data provider connections.
3. While still logged into IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub as an administrative user, create the connection again and this time specify HTTPS as the protocol.	Create a connection to the IBM Tivoli Monitoring dashboard data provider When creating your connection, do not select the box Use the credentials of the user (requires SSO Configuration).
4. Login to IBM Dashboard Application Services Hub as a user who has permission to view your dashboard pages, then launch the dashboard application again and verify data is displayed.	See your dashboard application's user guide for details on how to launch and use the dashboard. Tip: First select System Status and Health > Dashboard Health Checks to verify your environment is working correctly. Then if you are using Infrastructure Management Dashboards for Servers, select System Status and Health > Server Dashboards. For more information on using Infrastructure Management Dashboards for Servers, see the OS agent user's guides.

Task	Where to find information
Create situation definitions for events that your dashboard users will monitor.	See Situations for event monitoring in the Tivoli Enterprise Portal User's Guide and also see the Command Reference for information on the tacmd commands used to work with situations.
Create managed system groups that can be used to group managed systems for display in dashboard pages.	See Manage the environment in the Tivoli Enterprise Portal User's Guide and also see the Command Reference for information on the tacmd commands used to work with system lists.
Configure historical data collection if you want to display historical data in your dashboard pages. Not all monitoring dashboard applications support retrieving historical data from the Tivoli Data Warehouse.	Manage historical data
Authorize a new user or user group access to dashboard pages in Dashboard Application Services Hub.	Refer to the Jazz for Service Management Administrator's Guide in the Jazz for Service Management Information Center for details on how to work with roles that control access to dashboard pages. Tip: Best practice is to create a user group, add the users to the group, and then assign the group a Dashboard Application Services Hub role that has permission to view the appropriate dashboard pages.
For each dashboard user who will also use the Tivoli Enterprise Portal client, create a Tivoli Enterprise Portal user ID and assign it monitoring applications and any other permissions that they might require when using the portal client. To launch the Tivoli Enterprise Portal client from Dashboard Application Services Hub, the user must be assigned either the Tivoli Enterprise Portal <All Application> or Tivoli Monitoring Server application. Otherwise, they might see the KFWITM388E message after performing the launch.	Administer Users and Manage user IDs
Create custom dashboard pages and ensure the dashboard users are assigned a Dashboard Application Services Hub role with permission to view the custom pages.	Create custom dashboard pages that display monitoring data
Install a new monitoring dashboard application in Dashboard Application Services Hub, assign the dashboard's pages to a new or existing role, and assign users or user groups to the role that controls access to the pages. If an HTTP server is being used with Dashboard Application Services Hub for load balancing, regenerate the web server plugin. Verify the Tivoli Enterprise Portal user configured for the dashboard data provider connection is assigned the monitoring applications whose data will be displayed in the new dashboard application and is assigned view permission for events if the dashboard application displays situation event data. The application support for the agent must be installed in the portal server and monitoring server before you can see the agent's data in the new dashboards.	Follow the dashboard application installation documentation. Then, refer to the Jazz for Service Management Administrator's Guide in the Jazz for Service Management Information Center for details on how to work with roles that control access to dashboard pages. If required, regenerate the web server plugin by following the steps in the "Generating the plugin-cfg.xml file" topic in the Jazz for Service Management Configuration Guide on the Jazz for Service Management Information Center. Also see Administer Users for details on how to assign monitoring applications to a Tivoli Enterprise Portal user. The IBM Tivoli Monitoring Installation and Setup Guide includes information on how to install application support.
Migrate from a basic dashboard environment to a dashboard environment with single sign-on and per user authorization.	Migrate a basic monitoring dashboard environment to a dashboard environment with single sign-on and per user authorization controls
Determine if you want to control UISolutions imports. (New and updated dashboard applications automatically import their UISolutions definitions into the dashboard data provider.)	Control UISolutions imports