User Guide. BMC Express for Hardware

BMC Performance Manager Express for Hardware

Version 2.7.17

Prerequisites

1.

BPM Express for Hardware is a PM for the Portal and therefore needs to be installed within the BMC

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Portal environment.

2.

As this is an agent-less performance manager for the web-based BMC

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Performance Manager

Portal, it can be installed on just one managed element equipped with the Portal.

3.

Minimum version of BMC

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Portal should be 2.5.00.

4.

The RSM program should be installed on a Windows system (it can be the same as the Portal)

5.

Install the vendor-specific instrumentation agents or system management tools on the managed elements to be monitored prior to installing the PM. See the platform-specific guides for details.

6.

Download the product package i.e. a PAR file from BMC EPD or the Sentry Software Web site .

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How it Works

BMC Performance Manager Express for Hardware is a PM that enables BMC Portal to monitor computer hardware (disk status, temperatures, CPU, power supplies etc.

It gathers hardware information from different sources such as manufacturer-specific agents, standard management technologies, SNMP, WBEM, etc., and displays this information within the Portal environment.

In order to work properly, BPM Express for Hardware needs certain hardware information sources to be available. Depending on the platform, it relies on the manufacturer-specific instrumentation layer and/or on standard management technology such as WBEM or SNMP. On startup, BPM Express for Hardware automatically detects which hardware information source is available and then uses this to poll data on the hardware health of the computer. BPM Express for Hardware collects such data from each server and reports it in your Portal console.

How it Works

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M o nit o ring ha rd wa re wit h BPM Ex p re s s fo r Ha rd wa re

Overview of the mechanism of BPM Express for

Hardware

How it Works

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The Siemens® ServerView® agent shows the temperatures, the fans, the power supplies and the voltages of the Siemens computer through SNMP

The Mylex® GAM Server shows the status of the physical and logical disks of the Mylex RAID

Controller through SNMP

The Windows WMI provider shows the status of the physical disks attached to the standard SCSI controller through WBEM

BPM Express for Hardware detects and automatically connects to all three information sources

(Siemens ServerView, Mylex GAM Server and Windows WMI provider).

BPM Express for Hardware gathers only useful hardware information from these sources and displays it within the Portal framework

This is just a n e x a mple of the ba sic me cha nism of BPM Ex pre ss for Ha rdwa re a nd is a pplica ble to IBM, NEC , HP a nd a ll othe r supporte d compute rs a s we ll.

How it Works

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Understanding BPM Express for

Hardware within the Portal environment

Here’s an overview of the basic outline of BPM Express for Hardware within BMC

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Performance

Manager Portal.

The environment

The BMC

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Portal, is composed of a database, an application server, and a web server, and provides the access point for its utilities and modules.

The BMC

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Performance Manager Portal extends the features in the Portal, enabling you to leverage both agent-less technologies and the PATROL agent to monitor the availability and performance of your business infrastructure.

BPM Express for Hardware is a based on agent-less technology, is designed for the Portal and uses the same web-based interface and Portal features common to all modules.

The interaction

BPM Express for Hardware is leveraged by the BPM Portal module that uses Remote Service

Monitors (RSMs) to collect metrics about your infrastructure.

An RSM is a computer on which you have installed the RSM program. Depending on the size of your environment, you can implement one or many RSMs. To know what to monitor on the specified infrastructure elements, the RSM uses PMs and therefore for hardware monitoring, it banks on the

BPM Express for Hardware.

All Performance Managers, and the application classes that they contain, are installed on the Portal, and saved in the Portal database when you select them from an installation CD or when you import them via the Portal user interface. Performance Managers that are installed on the Portal are available to all users on the Portal who have the appropriate user permissions.

The figure below shows the interaction between BPM Express for Hardware and the Portal:

Understanding BPM Express for Hardware within the Portal environment

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U nd e rs t a nd ing BPM Ex p re s s fo r Ha rd wa re wit hin t he Po rt a l e nv iro nm e nt

Interaction between the PM and the Portal

The above given data and diagram show you how remote monitoring of your hardware is possible on the Portal. Installation of BPM Express for Hardware on just one computer is sufficient for monitoring a heterogeneous infrastructure, as long as the vendor-specific hardware agents are installed on every managed element.

Understanding BPM Express for Hardware within the Portal environment

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Integrating BPM Express for

Hardware

BPM Express for Hardware is specifically designed for BMC

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Portal and does not require any special integration process.

Once properly installed within the BMC

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Performance Manager Portal environment, the hardware information and status of the monitored elements should be available via the web browser used to access the Portal. Please refer to the Installation Guide for further details on the installation procedure.

Integrating BPM Express for Hardware

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The Need for Vendor-specific

Hardware Agents

Often, the standard operating system layer is not a sufficient hardware information source and most computers require an additional manufacturer-specific agent for BPM Express for Hardware to function properly. In most cases, server vendors provide the required hardware monitoring agent for their server models.

Depending on the platform, a single agent could monitor the temperatures, fans, voltages, power supplies and RAID systems, or, the platform may require separate agents for environment and disk monitoring.

For example: The IBM Director Agent monitors and provides information about temperatures, fans, voltages, power supplies and the ServeRAID disks for IBM xSeries servers. On the other hand, the

Siemens ServerView Agent only monitors the sensors on the motherboard of the server (temperatures, voltages, fans and power supplies) and so the Mylex GAM Server is required to monitor the Mylex RAID controller of the server.

Please refer to the Connector and Platform Reference Table and the

platform-specific guides for further details on vendor-specific agents required by BPM Express for Hardware.

The Need for Vendor-specific Hardware Agents

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Monitoring with BPM Express for

Hardware

Once BPM Express for Hardware is installed on the elements, after having ensured that all pre-requisites are met, the hardware information is displayed automatically in Portal interface under: Element >

Hardware (<platform-type>) as shown below.

Vie w o f o b je ct s d is co v e re d b y BPM Ex p re s s fo r Ha rd wa re

Monitored components

Depending on the managed system, BPM Express for Hardware monitors:

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Disks (RAID and non-RAID disks)

Disk enclosures

Fans

Memory modules

Network interfaces

Power supplies

Processors

Temperature

Voltage

F or de ta ils on which ha rdwa re compone nts a re de te cte d on e a ch sy ste m, ple a se se e the C onne ctors & Pla tforms

R e fe re nce Ta ble

in the R e fe re nce Guide a nd click on the C onne ctor Na me a pplica ble to y our sy ste m/ty pica l pla tform.

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Inside BPM Express for Hardware

Architecture

BPM Express for Hardware is principally composed of a common hardware monitoring engine: BPM-

Express-for-Hardware-2.7.17.par containing the following files:

SEN_HW_bcel-5.2-2.5.00_Build_214.jar

SEN_HW_Hardware_2600-2.5.00_Build_214.jar

Detection

Upon startup, BPM Express for Hardware tests each connector in order to detect which hardware information sources are available (vendor-specific hardware agents, standards instrumentation layers, etc.) This is called the detection process.

Discovery

Once BPM Express for Hardware knows which hardware information sources are available and can be connected to, it tries to discover the hardware environment by querying these selected hardware information sources, as described in the corresponding *.hdf files. This is called the discovery process.

Collection

Finally, when the detection and discovery processes are complete, BPM Express for Hardware starts collecting data about the discovered hardware environment (status, temperatures, voltages, etc.) by querying the detected hardware information sources as described in the corresponding *.hdf files. This is called the collection process.

Here's a synopsis of the actions performed by BPM Express for Hardware:

Action

Activation

Detection

Discovery

Collection

Process

Description

Activates the SEN_HW_MAIN class

Tests each connector in order to detect which hardware information sources are available on the monitored element and can be connected to

Detection is carried out when the Hardware class is added to an element and each time the RSM is restarted.

Discovers the hardware environment by querying the previously detected hardware information sources

Creates the other class instances (SEN_HW_TEMPERATURE, SEN_HW_PHYSICALDISK, etc.)

Discovery is carried out every hour.

Polls previously detected hardware information sources to gather data about the hardware environment

Polling is carried out every 5 minutes.

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The Detection Process

Once the BPM Express for Hardware class is added to an element, BPM Express for Hardware:

1.

Gets the list of available connectors “*.hdf” files from %RSM_HOME%

\RSMxx\server\rsm\tmp\deploy\tmpxxxxxSentrySoftware-HardwareSentry-solution-2.7.17.parnative.

2.

For each “.hdf” file found, BPM Express for Hardware tests the detection criteria (OS type, NT service, processes, SNMP request, etc.)

3.

Marks the “.hdf” files as "detected" once all its detection criteria is successfully passed. There may be several connectors detected at one time (typically: one connector for the temperatures, voltages, etc., one for the RAID disk controller and one for the non-RAID disk controller)

4.

Launches the discovery process

O nly one “. hdf” file ca n de scribe the compute r mode l a nd ma nufa cture r a nd only one icon for the compute r will be cre a te d. The BPM Ex pre ss for Ha rdwa re e ngine will e nsure tha t only one “. hdf” de scribing the compute r mode l will be ma rke d a s "de te cte d".

The Discovery Process

The discovery process is launched just after the end of the detection process. It takes the following actions:

Processes the "Enclosure.Discovery" section of the detected connectors (“.hdf”) that describe the computer model and create the main Hardware Sentry and computer icon (class:

SEN_HW_ENCLOSURE). Most of other icons (environment, disks, devices etc) will be created under this computer icon.

Launches the disk controller discovery that processes the "Disk Controller Discovery" section of each detected “.hdf” file and creates the SEN_HW_DISKCONTROLLER icons.

Launches the other discoveries (fans, temperatures, voltages, power supplies, logical disks, physical disks and other devices) that will process the corresponding sections of each detected “.hdf” file and create the corresponding icons.

W ith a v ie w to optimiza tion, the discov e ry proce ss is a s pa ra lle lle d a s possible . A ll inde pe nde nt obje cts a re proce sse d a t the sa me time .

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The Collection Process

Once the discovery process is complete, the collection process starts:

Every five minutes, the BPM Express for Hardware spawns several paramlets that are responsible for the collection of information about a given device type.

For example, the SEN_HW_FAN_CLASS paramlet will gather fan information from the different detected hardware information sources, as described in the corresponding “.hdf” Fan.Collect

section.

These paramlets are "attached" to the main BPM Express for Hardware icon (SEN_HW_MAIN class) and not to the corresponding classes and instances.

When a device is marked as "missing" by the discovery process (i.e. had been discovered but is no longer discovered), the collection process no longer queries the hardware information source and simply sets the status of the object to alarm.

The Connectors

Each connector is an “.hdf” file that is dedicated to one source of hardware information. Each connector file describes how BPM Express for Hardware connects to the available hardware information source and what information is available through this source. For example, SEN_HW_Director41NT.hdf describes how to get information from the IBM Director 4.1 Agent and then monitor an IBM xSeries server.

An “.hdf” file can tell the BPM Express for Hardware engine to do the following actions:

Query a SNMP agent (get, get next, and tables)

Execute a WBEM query (using WMI for Windows and the Pegasus implementation of WBEM for

Linux)

Execute an OS command (using TELNET and SSH)

Each “.hdf” file uses a mix of these possible actions with some computing capabilities to make BPM

Express for Hardware gather useful data in a given hardware information source.

The “. hdf” file s a re de ploy e d on the R SM a t % R SM_HO ME%

\R SMx x \se rv e r\rsm\tmp\de ploy \tmpx x x x x Se ntry Softwa re -Ha rdwa re Se ntry -solution-2. 7. 17. pa r-na tiv e . The se file s re le a se d by Se ntry Softwa re a re e ncry pte d a nd the re fore ca nnot be upda te d or modifie d by the e nd-use r.

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Monitoring

Monitoring the hardware components with the BPM Express for Hardware is very simple. Once installed, as per the instructions given in the Installation Guide chapter, BPM Express for Hardware automatically detects all the various hardware components and displays them in the web-based interface.

There is no configuration or setup to be done in order to monitor the hardware of your infrastructure.

All you have to do is set/modify thresholds (if required) as per your specific requirements.

This section gives details about all the components monitored by BPM Express for Hardware.

The Basics

BPM Express for Hardware requires no configuration to discover and monitor the hardware components within your BMC

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Performance Manager Portal environment.

Once the PM is installed after ensuring that all prerequisites have been as described in the Installation

Guide (such as installing the manufacturer-specific hardware agents etc.), and the class is added to an element or Element Profile, an icon labeled Hardware (<platform>) appears in the Portal interface and the PM discovers all the hardware components of the managed element.

The discovered hardware components of the monitoring element are grouped under certain container icons. Here is a the structure of how the monitored elements are displayed in the Portal interface:

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Ha rd wa re Co m p o ne nt s S t ruct ure

In the left pane of the Status tab, the hardware component icons are shortened as follows:

Environment

Fans - FAN

Temperature - TEMP

Power Supply - PS

Voltage - VOLT

Disks

Logical disk - LD

Physical disk - HD

Disk Controller - CTRL

Devices

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Blade - BL

Processors - CPU

Memory Module - MEM

Other Device - name of the actual "other device" as reported by the underlying instrumentation agent

Network Interface - NET

BPM Express for Hardware sets thresholds by default on all parameters, but you can modify the thresholds as per your specific requirements.

The R e fe re nce Guide giv e s de ta ils for e a ch a pplica tion cla ss a nd the ir pa ra me te rs.

Monitoring the Enclosure

On certain platforms, like DELL PowerEdge computers and IBM xSeries computers running Windows or

Linux, BPM Express for Hardware can detect if the enclosure of the machine is open.

This intrusion that is detected could mean that somebody has gained physical access to the machine, as well as its internal components, especially the physical disks with all the data. It is therefore quite helpful to monitor the enclosure status of servers. Depending on the platform, for each enclosure discovered, the Status, Power Consumption and Intrusion Status parameters are displayed.

M o nit o ring t he e nclo s ure

Basically, the enclosure instance represents the computer's main chassis of the element.

The Intrusion Status parameter, when available, raises an alert when the enclosure is opened.

The Power Consumption parameter when available, displays the power consumed by the element in Watts.

The Status parameter, if collected, represents the overall status of all the classes of monitored element.

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Monitoring the Environment: Fans,

Temperatures, Power-Supplies and Voltages

BPM Express for Hardware automatically detects the information sources available on the monitored computer and displays the hardware information provided by those sources in the Portal interface. It is the Environment icon that regroups the icons created for each sensor found for Fans, Temperature,

Power Supplies and Voltages. The icons are created automatically.

In the left pane, click on an Element > Hardware (<platform>) > Computer Type > Environment to see the discovered hardware components in detail in the right pane. Similarly by clicking on any hardware component in the left pane, you can see details about it in the right pane. For each monitored element, graphs & text reports are built by polling the parameter instances every five minutes. To view these graphs or text reports from the Status tab:

M o nit o ring t he Env iro nm e nt : fa ns , t e m p e ra t ure s a nd v o lt a g e s

1.

Click the parameter > click the corresponding History icon that appears in the right pane.

2.

For parameters with numeric values or Boolean values such as: Temperature, Voltage, Speed,

Speed Percent and Used Capacity, you can see the results either in Chart view (graph) or Table view (for parameters with text values)

Alert Thresholds: Depending on the type of platform and sensors, and whenever possible, alert thresholds are automatically set by BPM Express for Hardware. When the parameter value breaches these thresholds, it is Status - a text parameter that displays the overall status for every instance, that triggers alerts, and a notification is sent out according to the options configured in the Portal.

If a device appears to be missing, the Status parameter will trigger an alert. Alert conditions for Status describe in symbolic terms what occurs in the Status parameter when thresholds are breached: one exclamation mark triggers a warning; two exclamation marks raise an alarm.

Example

If BPM Express for Hardware detects that manufacturer-specified thresholds for the device have been breached, the Status parameter will report for example: “WARNING! The fan speed is too low” or,

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“ALARM! This fan has stopped working” etc. The history graph shows the exact details of the problem, its consequences and recommended actions.

Fans

To avoid temperatures that are too high, system manufacturers install fans on critical devices

(processors, power supplies, etc.). Monitoring fans is important as they ensure a proper temperature for the system to work efficiently. Depending on the available information, the Speed and/or Speed

Percent and/or Status parameters will be displayed for each detected fan device:

The Speed parameter represents the speed of the corresponding fan in rotations/minute. An alert is triggered if the fan speed is too low for proper functioning.

The Speed Percent parameter represents the speed of the corresponding fan in percentage of its maximal speed.

The Status parameter represents the overall status of the fan. An alert is triggered if any of the parameters breach their respective thresholds. It is only Status that will trigger and display the alerts. When all is fine, Status shows “OK”, and when there is problem, it shows “WARNING!” or

“ALARM!!” with a detailed description of the issue, its consequences and recommended actions. The alert conditions for Status are: “!”=WARNING; “!!”=ALARM . Example: “OK”, or, “ALARM!! This fan is not detected anymore”.

Temperatures

As with any electronic device, chips and other components of a computer stop working when the temperature rises too high (many unrecoverable errors, crashes and even hardware damage).

Temperatures may rise too high when the device is abnormally overloaded, when a fan is not working properly or when the ambient temperature is too hot. Monitoring the temperatures of critical devices of your system allows you to take action before a crash occurs.

Depending on the available information, the Temperature and/or Status parameters will be displayed for each detected temperature sensor:

The Temperature parameter represents the current temperature reading in degrees Celsius (°C).

The Status parameter represents the overall status of the temperature. An alert is triggered if the temperature rises to high, or i.e. if any of the other parameters breach their respective thresholds.

It is only Status that will trigger and display the alerts. When all is fine, Status shows “OK”, and when there is problem, it shows “WARNING!” or “ALARM!!” with a detailed description of the issue, its consequences and recommended actions. The alert conditions for Status are: “!”=WARNING;

“!!”=ALARM. Example: “OK”, or, “ALARM!!. The temperature is critically high”.

Power Supplies

The power supply is the component that transforms the AC Line into electric power needed by the computer. Therefore the power supply is a highly critical device of a computer that should never fail.

Due to this, many vendors build servers with redundant power supplies. Monitoring power supplies allows the operators to be alerted when a power supply fails, or even in some cases when a power supply is overloaded.

Depending on the available information, the Used Capacity and/ or Status parameters will be displayed for each power supply or power unit device:

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The Used Capacity parameter represents the current power usage as a percentage. The Status parameter triggers an alert when the power supply’s maximum power output is reached.

The Status parameter represents the overall status of the power supply. An alert is triggered if power output goes out of range, or i.e. if the parameter for breaches its thresholds. It is Status that will trigger and display the alerts. When all is fine, Status shows “OK”, and when there is problem, it shows “WARNING!” or “ALARM!!” with a detailed description of the issue, its consequences and recommended actions. The alert conditions for Status are: “!”=WARNING; “!!”=ALARM. Example:

“WARNING! Problem: This power supply is in degraded state, or about to fail or “ALARM!! The power consumed by the system is out of the supported range".

Voltages

Power supplies convert the AC line power into voltages and currents needed by the motherboard of the computer. The stability of the motherboard (and therefore that of the overall computer) strongly depends on this power converter. Voltages that are too low or too high may lead to unpredictable system crashes. Monitoring the value of the different voltages needed by the motherboard will help in detecting unstable system instability.

Depending on the available information, the Voltage and/or Status parameters are displayed for each voltage sensor on the motherboard:

The Voltage parameter represents the voltage output in milliVolts (mV). An alert is triggered by the

Status parameter if the voltage goes out of the proper range.

The Status parameter represents the overall status of the voltage. It triggers an alert if the voltage output is too low for proper functioning or if it goes out of the proper range. It is only Status that will trigger and display the alerts. When all is fine, Status shows “OK”, and when there is problem, it shows “WARNING!” or “ALARM!!” with a detailed description of the issue, its consequences and recommended actions. The alert conditions for Status are: “!”=WARNING; “!!”=ALARM. Example:

“OK” or “ALARM!! This voltage sensor is no longer detected".

Monitoring Disks: Physical Disks, Logical Disks and Disk Controllers

BPM Express for Hardware automatically detects the information sources available on the monitored computer and displays the hardware information provided by those sources in the Portal interface.

It is the Disks icon that regroups the icons created for each sensor found for logical disks, physical disks, and disk controllers. If the components are detected, the icons are created automatically. In the left pane, click on an Element > Hardware (<platform>) > Computer Type > Disks and see the discovered components in detail in the right pane. An icon is created for each storage-related device discovered: physical disks, logical disks and disk controllers. Each icon is labeled with a description of the device: ID, size, vendor, role, etc. By clicking on the disk in the left pane, you can see its details in the right pane.

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M o nit o ring d is k s : d is k co nt ro lle r, p hy s ica l d is k s , lo g ica l d is k s

A n icon will be cre a te d for a disk controlle r only if its pa ra me te rs discov e r some v a lue s. If not, the n the disk controlle r de ta ils will be me ntione d in the "A tta che d to" pa ra me te r of the logica l/phy sica l disk.

Each of these disks also display which disk controller they are attached to. If a device appears to be missing, the Status parameter will trigger an alert. Status is a text parameter that describes the overall status of the corresponding device or sensor. It is the Status parameter that raises alerts when any of the other parameters for the device breach their thresholds. Alert conditions for Status describe in symbolic terms what occurs in the parameter when thresholds are breached: one exclamation mark triggers a warning; two exclamation marks raise an alarm.

Example

If BPM Express for Hardware detects that manufacturer-specified thresholds have been breached, the

Status parameter will report, for example: “WARNING! This disk is about to fail” or, “ALARM!! This logical disk is no longer detected” or as may be the case. The history graph shows the exact details of the problem, its consequences and recommended actions.

Physical Disks

Physical disks must be monitored to avoid loss of data, unavailability and performance degradation.

When available, the S.M.A.R.T. technology is used to warn of a disk failure before it occurs.

Depending on the available information, the Predicted Failure, Error Count and Status parameters will be displayed for each discovered physical disk:

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The Predicted Failure parameter uses the S.M.A.R.T. technology to predict physical disk failures. An alert will be triggered by the Status parameter if it is predicted that the Physical Disk will soon break down.

The Error Count parameter is incremented each time an error occurs on this physical disk. An alert is raised by the Status parameter from the first detected error. The Status parameter represents the overall status of the physical disk and triggers an alert is triggered if the physical disk is not available for proper operation or if any of the other parameters breach their thresholds.

The Status parameter represents the overall status of the physical disk. It triggers an alert if the physical disk missing or not fully operational or if any of the other parameters have breached their thresholds. It is only Status that will trigger and display the alerts. When all is fine, Status shows

“OK”, and when there is problem, it shows “WARNING!” or “ALARM!!” with a detailed description of the issue, its consequences and recommended actions. The alert conditions for Status are:

“!”=WARNING; “!!”=ALARM. Example: “OK” or “ALARM!! This physical disk is no longer detected."

The Attached to parameter states which disk controller the physical disk is attached to.

The "Sta tus" pa ra me te r re ports a n “A LA R M!!” if the "Error C ount" pa ra me te r is gre a te r tha n ze ro (tha t is: the disk e ncounte re d some e rrors). Since the counte r is re se t e v e ry 24th hour, the corre sponding a le rt on the Sta tus pa ra me te r will a utoma tica lly be cle a re d a fte r 24 hours. This me cha nism e na ble s BPM Ex pre ss for Ha rdwa re /Porta l to re port pure e v e nt-driv e n a le rts with no ne e d for ma nua l a cknowle dge me nt from the ope ra tors.

Logical Disks

RAID or advanced disk controllers expose several physical disks as a single logical disk to the operating system. The status of a logical disk typically corresponds to the status of a RAID array (on-line, degraded, rebuilding, etc.). For each logical disk discovered, the parameters displayed are:

The Error Count parameter represents number of errors encountered by the Logical disk since the last counter reset. The error count is automatically reset every 24th hour (by default; this setting is configurable).

The Status parameter represents the overall status of the logical disk. It triggers an alert if the logical disk missing or if any of the other parameters have breached their thresholds. It is only

Status that will trigger and display the alerts. When all is fine, Status shows “OK”, and when there is problem, it shows “WARNING!” or “ALARM!!” with a detailed description of the issue, its consequences and recommended actions. The alert conditions for Status are: “!”=WARNING;

“!!”=ALARM. Example: “OK” or “ALARM!! This logical disk is no longer detected."

The Attached to parameter states which disk controller the logical disk is attached to.

F or non-R A ID disk controlle rs (a s most of IDE controlle rs, for e x a mple ), no logica l disk will be displa y e d.

The "Sta tus" pa ra me te r re ports a n “A LA R M!!” if the Error C ount pa ra me te r is gre a te r tha n ze ro (tha t is: the disk e ncounte re d some e rrors). Since the counte r is re se t e v e ry 24th hour, the corre sponding a le rt on the Sta tus pa ra me te r will a utoma tica lly be cle a re d a fte r 24 hours. This me cha nism e na ble s BPM Ex pre ss for Ha rdwa re /Porta l to re port pure e v e nt-driv e n a le rts with no ne e d for ma nua l a cknowle dge me nt from the ope ra tors.

Disk Controller

A disk controller is a card inside a computer that connects one or several physical disk drives to this computer. Some intelligent disk controllers (such as RAID controllers) manage several physical disks as a single logical disk which is the only disk exposed to the operating system. Monitoring both physical and logical disks is essential to ensure that storage is available.

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Depending on the system and the information available, the Battery Status and Controller Status parameters are displayed.

The Battery Status parameter triggers an alert to predict that the disk controller battery will be unable to support the controller in the event of a power failure.

The Controller Status parameter displays the status of the disk controller.

The disk controller icon is displayed only if either/both of the parameters collect some values. If no values are collected, there will be no separate icon for the disk controller, but the logical disk and physical disk instances display the details of the disk controller the disks are attached to.

A ll sy ste ms ma y not be a ble to prov ide this informa tion.

Monitoring Devices: Processors, Memory

Modules and Network interfaces

BPM Express for Hardware automatically detects the information sources available on the monitored computer and displays the hardware information provided by those sources in the Portal interface.

It is the Devices icon that regroups the icons created for each sensor found for the processors, memory modules, network interfaces. If the components are detected, the icons are created automatically.

In the left pane, click on an Element > Hardware (<platform>) > Computer Type > Devices and see the discovered components in detail in the right panel. An icon is created for each detected device. Each icon is labeled with a description of the device: ID, size, vendor, role, etc.

Clicking the icon in the left pane, displays its details in the right pane. If a device appears to be missing, the Status parameter will trigger an alert if necessary.

M o nit o ring d e v ice s : CPU s , m e m o ry m o d ule s , ne t wo rk int e rfa ce s a nd o t he r d e v ice s

Status is a text parameter that describes the overall status of the corresponding device or sensor. It is the Status parameter that raises alerts when any of the other parameters for the device breach their thresholds. Alert conditions for Status describe in symbolic terms what occurs in the parameter when

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thresholds are breached: one exclamation mark triggers a warning; two exclamation marks raise an alarm.

Example

If BPM Express for Hardware detects that manufacturer-specified thresholds for the device have been breached, the status parameter will report for example: “WARNING! This network adapter has degraded” or, “ALARM! This network adapter is not detected anymore” or as may be the case. The history graph shows the exact details of the problem, its consequences and recommended actions.

The "Sta tus" pa ra me te r re ports a n A LA R M if the "Error C ount" a nd "C orre cte d Error C ount" pa ra me te rs re port v a lue s gre a te r tha n ze ro (tha t is: the disk e ncounte re d some e rrors). Since the counte r is re se t e v e ry 24th hour, the corre sponding a le rt on the "Sta tus" pa ra me te r will a utoma tica lly be cle a re d a fte r 24 hours. This me cha nism e na ble s

BPM Ex pre ss for Ha rdwa re /Porta l to re port pure e v e nt-driv e n a le rts with no ne e d for ma nua l a cknowle dge me nt from the ope ra tors.

Processors

Processors (also called CPU, Central Processing Unit) are obviously the most critical devices within a computer. While a processor fault may often lead to a system crash without a chance for a monitoring tool to catch the error, it can still be useful to monitor a server’s processors.

In the case of a system crash due to a processor fault, the system reboots automatically. The reboot is either triggered by the operating system or by the motherboard itself. If a processor is no longer working, it is automatically disabled by the BIOS and, if there is one processor left, the operating system starts with one processor less.

BPM Express for Hardware monitors each processor and checks that it is present and running. If a processor is missing upon reboot, BPM Express for Hardware will trigger an alert. On some recent or high-end servers, processors are able to correct some operation errors by themselves (like the ECC memory). If this information is available, it is displayed in the Portal by BPM Express for Hardware. In addition, if the processor is able to predict a failure, this information will be monitored by BPM Express for Hardware and reported in the Portal interface.

Depending on the information available, the Status and/or Corrected Error Count and/or Predicted

Failure parameters will be displayed for each discovered processor (CPU):

The Status parameter represents the overall status of the processor. An alert is triggered if the processor is not available for proper operation (missing, disable by the BIOS due to a POST error, etc.) or if any if the other parameters breach their thresholds.

The Predicted Failure parameter reports the predictive failure analysis, performed by the processor itself. This information is based on the rate of corrected errors.

The Corrected Error Count parameter represents the number of errors that have been automatically corrected by the processor. This information can be very useful to predict a failure in the near future.

Memory Modules

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The main memory of a computer is actually as critical as the processors since almost all processor operations deal with the memory. A single memory fault will lead to severe computer crash with, potentially, data corruption. On servers, the memory modules (the devices where the memory data is actually stored) often include auto-correction features (ECC), and sometimes even better: RAID5-like memory configuration. These features and configurations allow the memory modules to report statistics on failures, to predict failures, to hot-replace a memory module upon failure, etc.

Depending on the available information and the features provided by the motherboard and the memory modules, the Error Count and/or Predicted Failure and/or Status parameters will be displayed for each discovered memory module:

The Error Count parameter reports the number of errors that have been detected by the memory module and then corrected. A steadily growing value means that the memory module is not reliable and that it could encounter errors that it is unable to correct and that will then crash the system.

The Predicted Failure parameter is reported by the memory modules which try to predict if it is going to fail by analyzing the trend of the number of detected/corrected errors (thanks to the ECC technology). If this parameter goes into alarm, you should remove the faulty memory module and replace it with a new one.

The Status parameter represents the overall status of the memory module. An alert is triggered if the memory module reports a failure (in a RAID5-like configuration), if it is missing after a computer reboot or if any of the other parameters breach their thresholds.

Network Interfaces

Network interfaces are devices that serve as a common interface for various other devices within a local area network (LAN), or as an interface to allow networked computers to connect to an outside network.

It is therefore essential to make sure these devices are properly running and linked to the network. For each network interface discovered, the Status, Error Percent and/or Link Status parameters are displayed:

The Status parameter represents the overall status of the network interface. An alert is triggered when the network interface is not responding, or any of the other parameters’ thresholds are breached.

The Link Status reports whether or not the adapter is properly linked to the network from a pure hardware cable perspective (it will not report a bad IP configuration for example).By default, the

Link Status parameter raises an alert (through Status) only for previously connected network adapters that are no longer linked to the network.

The Error Percent parameter represents the percentage of sent and received network packets that were in error. A high percentage of errors often means that the network link is improperly configured or that the network card is functioning poorly and thus needs to be replaced.

Related Topics

Modifying Parameters Thresholds

SEN_HW_CPU

SEN_HW_MEMORY

SEN_HW_NETWORK

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Missing Device Detection

The missing device detection mechanism of BPM Express for Hardware alerts operators when a device that was previously detected in the system is no longer found.

This mechanism is especially useful when, for example, a non-redundant physical disk does not restart during a system reboot and therefore is no longer seen by the operating system and the monitoring software. When a device is no longer discovered, its Status parameter goes into alarm and its label directly shows that it is missing.

Monitoring Connectors

When a BPM Express for Hardware connector has been detected as applicable to the current platform, a corresponding instance is created under Infrastructure > Element > Hardware (<platform>) > Detected

Connectors and its status is monitored regularly to ensure that the underlying technology is still available.

Example

BPM Express for Hardware is running on a Dell PowerEdge server with Dell OpenManage Server

Administrator.

Upon startup, BPM Express for Hardware detects Dell OpenManage Server Administrator and starts using the corresponding connector to discover the server hardware configuration and monitor the discovered devices.

BPM Express for Hardware creates an icon representing the Dell OpenManage Server Administrator connector.

Every 5 minutes, its Status parameter is updated.

If, for some reason, the Dell agent stops working, an alarm is raised on the Status parameter and all the components discovered and monitored through this connector go off-line.

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M o nit o ring co nne ct o rs

This connector monitoring mechanism helps administrators detect hardware agent failures. It provides a higher monitoring accuracy by not confusing errors encountered by devices with errors caused due to failure of the monitoring tool. The parameters for the connector monitoring class are:

Test Report: This parameter describes the tests run to evaluate the availability of the technologies used by this connector to monitor the system.

Status: This parameter displays the overall status of the connector and it is this parameter that triggers the alerts if any of the parameters of the class breach their thresholds.

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Thresholds

By default, BPM Express for Hardware automatically sets alert thresholds on the parameters of monitored elements. Depending on the computer it is running on - BPM Express for Hardware sets different thresholds for the different parameters (temperature, voltage etc.).

How thresholds are set by BPM Express for Hardware

BPM Express for Hardware dynamically sets the thresholds on all of its parameters, depending on the platform it runs on. It receives the threshold values from the underlying instrumentation layer of the element. This is why a recapitulative table of alert thresholds cannot be provided - they differ from system to system.

The alerts, i.e. the warnings and alarms are configured to be automatically raised via the Status parameter of each class. For example, a voltage instance has two parameters: Status and Voltage.

When thresholds on the Voltage parameter are breached - by default the alert is displayed by the Status parameter icon, and not the Voltage parameter icon.

T he S t a t us p a ra m e t e r d is p la y s t he a le rt

W he n de fa ult thre sholds a re modifie d, the a le rts a re displa y e d by the icon of the pa ra me te r whose thre sholds ha v e

be e n modifie d. Se e Modify ing Pa ra me te r Thre sholds

Parameters configured to trigger alerts

It is only Status, the text parameter that shows the overall status of each monitored element and displays the alert conditions of warnings and alarms. For example, let's take the case of a network interface, which has the following instances under it:

Link Status: Indicates whether or not the card is plugged

Values: Plugged = OK; Unplugged (if previously plugged in) = Alarm

Error Percent: Displays the percentage of errors detected

Unit: %10-30 = Warning; 30-100 = Alarm

Status: Displays the overall status of the instance

Values: OK; Unplugged = Warning; Critical/Missing = Alarm

If the network interface is unplugged, this information will be displayed by Link Status parameter icon in the History icon with all the details. However, only the Status icon will go into Warning. Similarly, if the

Error Percent parameter thresholds breach alarm levels, it is the Status icon that will trigger and display

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the alarm and not the Error Percent icon.

Configuration of Alert Conditions

BPM Express for Hardware detects manufacturer-set thresholds for each element and assigns these pre-set thresholds to its symbolic conditions of exclamation marks.

BPM Express for Hardware translates the regex of one exclamation mark "!" into a warning, and two exclamation marks into an alarm. By default, the alerts are triggered on the Status parameter. You can see these threshold symbols for any monitored element in the Configure tab, under Thresholds.

Nevertheless, it is possible to modify these pre-set thresholds via the Configure tab in the Portal. You must however remember that you have to disable the thresholds for the Status parameter (which will otherwise continue to consider pre-set thresholds), and instead directly assign custom threshold values on individual parameters of the class.

Starting with version 2.7.17, BPM Express for Hardware manages the display of parameters dynamically. This was rendered possible by creating separated parameter definition files for each parameter of an application class. Therefore, for application class that has more than one parameter, a combination of different parameters was created. This may result in the display of several occurrence of the same application class. For example, the Application class: SEN_HW_PHYSICALDISK has 3 parameters:

Status

PredictedFailure

ErrorCount

Therefore, 7 parameter definition files were created in order to define each parameter and the possible combination of all the parameters. That is:

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Status

PredictedFailure

ErrorCount

Status, PredictedFailure

Status, ErrorCount

ErrorCount, PredictedFailure

Status, ErrorCount, PredictedFailure

Consequently, we strongly recommend that you wait for all the hardware components to be discovered before setting threshold values for a hardware instance to avoid having to enter thresholds for each occurrence of the application class.

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Modifying Parameter Thresholds

Whenever possible, BPM Express for Hardware automatically sets thresholds for parameters. These thresholds are retrieved from the element's instrumentation agents and in most cases they are apt for the system.

Generally, there is no need to modify these thresholds but in case BPM Express for Hardware cannot obtain them, or if you prefer a more fault-tolerant monitoring, you can modify the thresholds of each parameter through the Configure tab > Edit Thresholds.

1.

To modify the parameter thresholds of several hardware objects of an element, click on the

Hardware (<platform>) icon in the Configure tab > Thresholds, Properties and Credentials > Edit.

or

To modify the thresholds of a particular instance, click on the instance icon > Thresholds, Properties and Credentials > Edit.

T hre s ho ld s , Pro p e rt ie s a nd Cre d e nt ia ls

Click Edit to modify the thresholds

Any modification to the thresholds or any other properties of elements created using the

"Element Profile" mode is to be done using the Element Profile route or by clicking "Override Profile"

2.

Disable the alert conditions in the Status parameter, i.e. un-check the boxes for Warning and

Alarm.

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Disable the alerts on the Status parameter by un-checking the boxes

3.

Enable the alert conditions on the parameter (Temperature in the image below) by checking the boxes, and manually enter the threshold values and then click on Save.

M o d ify ing t hre s ho ld v a lue s

Manually modify the thresholds on the parameter and activate the alerts

4.

The "Success, changes have been saved" message indicates that the modifications have been registered.

Alerts, if any, will be henceforth be displayed by the Temperature parameter icon, and not the

Status icon as is the case when default thresholds are maintained.

Alerts are displayed by the parameter whose thresholds are modified.

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Troubleshooting

This section lists the most frequently asked questions:

Enabling the Debug Mode

BPM Express for Hardware Shows No Monitored Components

Monitors Nothing other than Network Interfaces

Note on RSMs

Unable to See Any Disk Information

Unable to Connect to WMI

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Enabling the Debug Mode

By default, BPM Express for Hardware sends only the most critical information, warning and error messages to the Status parameter report. Most often, this information is accurate enough to ensure that BPM Express for Hardware is functioning properly. If you encounter an issue and wish to report it to customer support, you will be asked to enable the Debug Mode and provide the debug output to the support team.

1.

In the Configure tab > click the Element whose debug output you require.

2.

Scroll down to Application Classes > click Edit.

3.

Select Yes from the drop-down Debug Mode list > Save.

4.

Once the debug mode is enabled, delete the files sen_hw_database_hostname_*.dat stored at %

RSM_HOME%\RSMxx\server\rsm\tmp\deploy\ or restart the RSM service (restarting the RSM will affect other PMs too).

5.

Deletion of the files or an RSM restart will allow BPM Express for Hardware to perform fresh detection, discovery and collection processes.

6.

By default, BPM Express for Hardware sends its debug output to: %RSM_HOME%/RSMxx/SEN_HW/ sen_hw_debug_hostname.log

7.

Wait for 30 minutes and then disable the debug mode by selecting No.

8.

Send the debug file to the support team.

Pa y a tte ntion to the file size -the de bug output of BPM Ex pre ss for Ha rdwa re could be v e ry la rge if e na ble d for se v e ra l da y s.

BPM Express for Hardware Shows Nothing

Even if BPM Express for Hardware is unable to detect any available hardware information source, it should create an icon labeled "Hardware" under the main computer icon.

1. Checking the Application Collection Status

This parameter has Boolean values: True or False

True indicates that BPM Express for Hardware is functioning

False indicates that it is not

You first need to check whether the “Application Collection Status” has been set to “true” which means that at least one collect has been performed. As long as this parameter is not set to “true”, it means that BPM Express for Hardware has not finished (successfully or not) its collection for this server. You need to wait until “Application Collection Status” is set to “true” before investigating further.

This parameter is created by default by the Portal for every application class that is added. Hence when you add BPM Express for Hardware on an element, this parameter should appear.

2. Checking the Machine Status

The second step is to check the “Machine Status” parameter which reports whether BPM Express for

Hardware on the RSM was able to communicate with the targeted server with the credentials provided

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by the user. If so, the “Machine Status” parameter is set to “<hostname> is alive. Detected as a <OS> system”. Otherwise, this parameter will report that BPM Express for Hardware cannot communicate with this host. This can be due to several reasons:

A firewall prevents communication between the RSM and the managed server

The WMI layer has not been installed or is disabled (Windows only)

Neither SSH nor Telnet connections are allowed on the managed server (UNIX and Linux only)

The supplied credentials are incorrect

The SNMP community string is wrong

If the “Machine Status” is OK, you need to check which connectors are detected as valid for the targeted server, and compare them to the expected list of connectors (as described in the Installation Guide).

3. Checking Connector Detection

If one or several connectors are not detected as valid for the targeted server, you should enable the debug mode of BPM Express for Hardware, and send Sentry Software the debug output. The following reasons could cause BPM Express for Hardware to exclude connectors.

Several reasons may prevent a connector from being used:

The SNMP community string is wrong (only for SNMP-based connectors)

The administrative/root credentials are missing or incorrect (only for connectors which need such root/administrative privileges)

The corresponding hardware agent is not installed or running

Some instrumentation drivers required by the hardware agent are missing

Monitors Nothing Other than Network Interfaces

This is typically an SNMP issue. Many manufacturer-provided hardware agents use the SNMP technology

(DELL OpenManage, HP Insight Management, Fujitsu-Siemens ServerView and for example). Since BPM

Express for Hardware gathers hardware information from these agents, you need to enable and properly configure the SNMP layer on the managed servers if an SNMP-based agent is running on them.

However sometimes, like in the case of HP® (Compaq®) ProLiant® servers, the network interface is detected and displayed whilst no other hardware component is detected by BPM Express for Hardware – simply because it cannot communicate with the managed element. So enabling and authorizing the managed server to communicate through the SNMP protocol is essential.

Configuring SNMP on Windows servers 2003, 2008

Starting with Windows Server 2003, the SNMP service is not configured to allow the "public" community by default. As a consequence, even if the SNMP service is properly installed and the hardware agent properly running, BPM Express for Hardware is not able to gather any hardware information from the

SNMP agent. Therefore, on Windows Server computers that run an SNMP-based hardware agent (DELL

OpenManage, HP Insight Management or Fujitsu-Siemens ServerView), you first need to install the

SNMP service (not installed by default) and then configure it to allow a community to access the SNMP agent.

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1.

In the Services administrative tool, right-click SNMP service > Properties. Click Security:

T ro ub le s ho o t ing : S NM P S e rv ice - Pro p e rt ie s

2.

Click on the first Add button and enter a community name that will allow access to the SNMP agent

(READ ONLY):

T ro ub le s ho o t ing : S NM P S e rv ice Co nfig ura t io n

3.

Click OK. The new settings are taken into account immediately.

4.

Next, you enter the community string for this server on the Portal: Log on as a user > Configure tab

> Elements

5.

Expand your infrastructure tree and select the element for which you need to enter the SNMP community string > Edit.

6.

Scroll down to Application Classes section > Hardware (<platform>) > Edit > Properties and

Credentials.

7.

Enter the SNMP community string in order to enable BPM Express for Hardware to monitor all hardware components of the element and not just network interfaces.

O n officia lly un-supporte d se rv e rs running W indows or Linux , BPM Ex pre ss for Ha rdwa re will still be a ble to monitor ne twork ca rds a nd inte rna l non-R A ID disks.

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Reinitializing Certain Parameters

Due to the inner mechanism of servers, and that of BPM Express for Hardware, certain parameters have a tendency to trigger alerts far too frequently.

Generally, these alerts do not indicate a grave problem, and are more of a nuisance to administrators who have to deal with them all the time. Error Count and Corrected Error Count are two such parameters. Reinitializing these parameters automatically reduces the triggering of such “ignorable” alerts.

For this reason, BPM Express for Hardware has configured Error Count and Corrected Error Count to be re-initialized every 24hrs by default. This time-frame is customizable. Basically, here’s what happens:

When BPM Express for Hardware detects the parameter Error Count for the first time, it notes the number of errors encountered, and keeps that “1st discovered” number as a base–count.

After which, each time it discovers an Error Count greater than this recorded base-count (which becomes its “threshold”, it triggers an alert through the Status parameter of that class. This, as you can tell, happens far too often. It is the same with Corrected Error Count.

Now, configured by default to “re-initialize” every 24hrs, it is programmed to take the last recorded

Error Count/Corrected Error Count as the new “base-count or threshold” for the fresh round after reset. This is the inner mechanism, the display shows that on reset the count is zero, and if it increases to one, an alarm is triggered.

Example

Let’s say the very first discovered Error Count for SEN_HW_LOGICALDISK is 40.

Now onwards, every time, BPM Express for Hardware “discovers” the Logical disk, and it meets an Error Count of any value greater than 40, the Status parameter of that instance will trigger an alert.

Remember it is programmed for reintialization every 24hrs. So, suppose during the last

“collect” just before the reset takes place, the Error Count is ‘48’, BPM Express for Hardware will record ‘48’ as the “base-count” for the next round after re-initialization.

Hence after 24hrs (or the time you set: 6hrs, or 1hour etc), the base-count/threshold for Error

Count will be 48, and so on and so forth.

Classes that contain “reinitializable” parameters:

Error Count applies to:

SEN_HW_LOGICALDISK

SEN_HW_MEMORY

SEN_HW_PHYSICALDISK

Corrected Error Count applies to:

SEN_HW_CPU

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Unable to See Disk Controller

On some computers, the vendor-specific hardware monitoring agent is only responsible for the monitoring of the baseboard: temperatures, fans, voltages and power supplies. In this case, the disk monitoring is handled by the disk controller manufacturer. Therefore, you need to install additional software for your disk monitoring. Please contact your server vendor to know which software must be used with your disk controller.

Unable to connect to WMI

At times BPM Express for Hardware is unable to connect to WBEM. There could be two reasons for this:

1.

A firewall blocks the WBEM protocol

2.

The user does not have sufficient connection rights

Firewall is blocking the WMI protocol

In such a case, you are required to set the port for RPC/DCOM connections. WMI uses RPC/DCOM, so enabling the DCPM across the firewall should allow it to work. When WMI connects to a remote machine it uses port 135 for the initial negotiation, and then a random port is allocated for further connection.

Stated below are two links that will help in setting a range of ports for the RPC/DCOM connection. Once you have set a range for RPC/DCOM communication, you can then configure the firewall to allow traffic through this range of ports.

http

://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;154596 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa389286(VS.85).aspx

Insufficient connection rights

This means that the user credentials provided are insufficient to access WMI. This error occurs when the connected user is not recognized or is restricted in some fashion by the remote server (for example, the user might be locked out). The reasons may be the following:

Accounts are in different domains

Recent changes made to WMI security:

Blank passwords, formerly permitted, are not allowed in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003

The DCOM configuration access setting might have been changed

If the target computer is running Windows XP, the Force guest value under the registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa might be set to force the Guest account off (value is zero)

Request your network administrator to accord sufficient rights to the user credentials.

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