IBM Tivoli Monitoring > Version 6.3 Fix Pack 2 > Installation Guides > Installation Guide > Deploy monitoring agents across your environment > Bulk agent deployment
IBM Tivoli Monitoring, Version 6.3 Fix Pack 2
Organizing deployments using groups
There are three primary components that come into play when performing bulk deployments. These are 1) the components being deployed, 2) the recipients (targets) of the deployment, and 3) properties that specify, clarify, or alter key details used during the deployment.
Plan and organizing these components in a manner that reflects the current condition of your environment as well as the desired outcome for your environment will result in successful bulk deployments.
Organization of deployment targets and deployable components is achieved using groups. There are two types of groups used in bulk deployment, as follows.
- Type
- Function
- Deploy groups
- Organize deployment targets, which are the systems or agents to which a deployment is targeted.
- Bundle groups
- Organize the deployable components that will be used during deployment operations.
In addition to the obvious role these groups play in organizing the participants of deployment, the grouping facilities perform another very important role: Groups and group members can also hold and organize properties that the deployment process uses.
Deploy and Bundle groups are created using tacmd commands. For detailed information about creating such groups, see the Command Reference.
- Deploy groups
Deploy groups organize the targets of deployment operations. Deploy targets are specified as members within the deploy group. These deploy targets can represent unmanaged systems, which could be targets of a createNode deployment operation. Deploy targets can also represent managed systems where a Tivoli Monitoring or Netcool System Service Monitor (SSM) agent is already installed. Both of these types of deploy targets can be added as members to deploy groups.
- Bundle groups
Bundle groups organize and represent the components that you deploy. These include IBM Tivoli Monitoring agents and Netcool SSM agents. Deployable bundles are added as members to bundle groups using the tacmd command by specifying the agent's product code and optionally the platform and version for the bundle.
- Group properties
When using the tacmd command for deployment (createNode, addSystem, etc.), you can use the –p option to specify properties that modify parameters of the deployment or to specify configuration parameters to the agent installation process. When using the command interface with deploy and bundle groups, properties previously specified on the deploy command-line can be attached to the groups themselves or to group members.
Parent topic:
Bulk agent deployment