Configure CMA Policies

Configure Local Hosts Monitoring

Hardware Sentry is designed to automatically detect the components of the server it is running on along with the PATROL Agent. However, specific properties need to be configured to ensure the product collects and reports data and performance as needed.

1. Create a policy or edit an existing policy.

2. Click Add Monitoring Configuration to open the device configuration panel and select the options corresponding to the device you wish to monitor.

3. In the Hardware Configuration section, locate List of Devices and click Add to add a new device to your monitoring environment or click the button next to the device you wish to configure.

4. Configure the device properties:

   

   • Indicate the name of the device on which the PATROL Agent is installed and on which the policy will apply or leave the default setting (localhost) to let Hardware Sentry identify your local device automatically.
   • Enter the Hostname/IP address of the device. If no IP address is provided, the specified device name will be used. The IP address will then be resolved by your DNS/hosts file.
   • Select the Device Type.

5. Scroll down to the Protocol/Connection Information section to configure the options specific to the protocol you wish to use for monitoring the device:

   • HTTP
   • SNMP
   • WBEM
   • WMI

6. (Optional) Scroll down to the Device Advanced Settings section to select the specific connector(s) that will be used to monitor your device and to define additional configuration variables. Click here to open the Hardware Connector Library documentation and get an exhaustive list of available connectors.

   

   • Select an option from the Connector Selection list:

     • Automatic (default and recommended mode): to let the solution automatically run tests at each discovery and select the connector files that most closely match the requirements of the managed system.
     • Exclude Specified Connectors: to prevent connector file(s) to be used by the solution. Connector file names must be comma-separated (Example: MS_HW_CpMgServNT.hdf, MS_HW_CiscoUCSCIMC.hdf). Refer to the Hardware Connector Library documentation to get an exhaustive list of available connectors.
     • Use Specified Connectors (for advanced users): to manually enter the connector file names the solution will use to monitor the managed system. Please note that Connector file names must be comma-separated (Example: MS_HW_CpMgServNT.hdf, MS_HW_CiscoUCSCIMC.hdf). Refer to the Hardware Connector Library documentation to get an exhaustive list of available connectors.

     An error in the connector file selection will prevent Hardware Sentry from properly monitoring the managed system. Note that connectors' names are case sensitive.

   • In the Additional Variables section, click Add to configure the device additional configuration variables which will be applied to a single supervised host or device:

     

   • Enter the Name and Value of the configuration variable(s) you need to configure. Multiple values must be separated by a semi-colon (;). Refer to the Global Advanced Additional Configuration Variables and Host-Specific Configuration Variables sections for a complete list of available variables.

7. Click OK to validate.

8. In the Add Monitoring Configuration panel, locate the Global Advanced Settings section and the Local Commands settings options:

   

9. Select the Enable Local Commands to enable the utilization of local commands.

10. In the Execute localhost OS command as section, specify the user account for executing external commands on the localhost:

    • Executing commands with the default PATROL user account: leave blank to use the default PATROL account credentials

    • Executing commands with a specific user account: enter the username and password of the account you wish to use to execute the commands (typically root credentials).

    • (UNIX/Linux only) Localhost Sudo Options: Allows you to use the Sudo utility to execute root privileged command. If the PATROL Agent default account does not have sufficient privileges to execute commands and cannot be granted super-user rights, use the “sudo” utility to authorize users to execute specific commands as another user account (typically root). To configure Hardware Sentry to use Sudo:

      • Select the Use When root Privileges are Needed option. Make sure the sudo utility is installed on the system and the /etc/sudoers file is configured to allow the PATROL Agent to execute the commands as root.
      • Configure “sudo” to allow the PATROL Agent default account to execute the needed commands as root (modify the /etc/sudoers file). Configuring “sudo” requires root privileges.
      • Make sure the sudo utility is installed on the system and the /etc/sudoers file is configured to allow the PATROL Agent to execute the commands as root.
      • Verify that the PATROL Agent default account is properly authorized to execute the needed commands through the “sudo” utility.

    • In Sudo Command Line, enter the command line you wish Hardware Sentry to execute.

11. Click OK to save your settings. After a few minutes, your device will be displayed in the TrueSight console.

Configure Remote Hosts Monitoring

Hardware Sentry allows you to configure remote monitoring for any accessible device to get a real-time insight of the health of your monitored environment, perform proactive maintenance operations, and maintain the highest level of performance you need.

Hardware Sentry offers the possibility to add remote hosts to your monitoring environment individually or in a batch when the hosts share the same configuration settings (OS, protocol, credentials, etc.). When creating a group of hosts you are proposed to define the group name (Internal ID) as well as the set of hosts included into a group being created. The name (Internal ID) makes it easier for you to identify the hosts that are part of a group in the TrueSight console. Additionally, you can associate your system to Fully Qualified Domain Names (FDQNs) of specific devices in TrueSight when you define the connection settings of your host(s). The FDQN designates the specific location of a device within the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy; it communicates the host’s position relative to the root of the DNS namespace. An FQDN enables each connected device to be uniquely identified and located within the monitored environment and therefore ensures that a device is properly identified.

Adding a remote host or an external device to your monitored environment consists in identifying the host/device you wish to monitor and configure the connection settings according to the protocol you need to use. This section provides step-by-step instructions for adding a single host/device or for adding multiple hosts/devices at a time, that will be easily identified as part of a group in the TrueSight console.

Configure the Display of Monitored Hosts

The way hosts are displayed in your monitoring environment can be customized to help you organize your monitoring environment and facilitate the identification of your monitored systems.

Using the HTTP Protocol

You can use the HTTP protocol to establish a connection with the HTTP/REST interface and monitor systems or devices.

To monitor a system using the HTTP protocol:

1. Create a policy or edit an existing policy.

2. In the List of Devices panel, scroll down to the Protocol/Connection Information section to define the HTTP options.

3. Select the Enable HTTP option to enable the utilization of the HTTP protocol.

   

4. Configure the HTTP connection settings:

   • the protocol you wish to use: HTTP or HTTPS. By default, Hardware Sentry proposes to use HTTPS.
   • The port number to be used. By default, Hardware Sentry proposes to use port 443.
   • the HTTP credentials (username and password).

5. Click OK to validate.

Using the SNMP Protocol

Hardware Sentry can leverage the SNMP protocol to collect hardware information. In that case, an SNMP agent must be installed on the monitored host and the SNMP connection configured. The information required by Hardware Sentry depends on to the SNMP version you wish to use.

To monitor a server using the SNMP protocol:

1. Create a policy or edit an existing policy.

2. In the List of Devices panel, scroll down to the Protocol/Connection Information section.

3. Select the Enable SNMP option to enable the utilization of the SNMP protocol.

4. Define the SNMP Information:

   • Select the version of the SNMP protocol that Hardware Sentry must use to retrieve information from the SNMP agent. Possible values are 1, 2c, or 3.
   • Indicate the SNMP port number you wish to use to perform SNMP queries. By default the SNMP queries are performed through port 161.
   • Define the connection settings according to the SNMP protocol you wish to use:
     • If you wish to use SNMP version 1, provide a valid SNMP Community string to use to perform SNMP v1 queries (Default: Public). Please note that timeout is set through the PATROL Agent Configuration variable /snmp/default_timeout.
     • If you wish to use SNMP version 2c:
       • provide a valid SNMP Community string to use to perform SNMP v2c queries (Default: Public).
       • indicate the number of seconds Hardware Sentry will wait for an SNMP response. By default, the timeout is set to 120 seconds to cover all the sub-queries that compose the ‘parent’ queries.
     • If you wish to use SNMP version 3:
       • enter the Username to be used to perform the SNMP v3 queries.
       • select the Authentication Protocol to be used to authenticate the SNMP v3 messages. Possible values are: None, MD5, SHA.
         • provide the Authentication Password to be used to authenticate the SNMP v3 messages.
       • select the Privacy Protocol to be used to authenticate SNMP v3 messages. Possible values are: None, AES, DES.
       • enter the Privacy Password associated with the privacy protocol.
       • enter the Context Name accessible to the SNMP entity.
       • indicate the number of seconds (Timeout) Hardware Sentry will wait for an SNMP response. By default, the timeout is set to 120 seconds to cover all the sub-queries that compose the ‘parent’ queries.

Using the SSH Protocol

SSH (Secure Shell) can be used to monitor Linux/UNIX servers or to communicate remotely with systems and devices that have an SSH interface on their management card. Once the SSH options are configured, Hardware Sentry will run commands to determine the status, performance or capacity of these systems.

To monitor a server using the SSH protocol

1. Create a policy or edit an existing policy.

2. In the List of Devices panel, scroll down to the Protocol/Connection Information section to define the SSH options.

3. Select the Enable SSH option to enable the utilization of the SSH protocol.

4. Provide the required SSH configuration information:

   

   • Provide the Username, Password/Passphrase (if required), and the OpenSSH Private Key File.

   The key file must be accessible to the PATROL Agent that will make the connection to the host through the SSH protocol.

   • (UNIX/Linux only) In the Sudo Options section:
     • Check the Use When root Privileges are Needed option to use the “sudo” utility in order to execute external commands as “root” on UNIX/Linux platforms.
     • Enter the Sudo Command Line to execute.

5. Click OK to validate.

Using the WBEM Protocol

You can use the WBEM (Web-Based Enterprise Management) protocol to communicate directly with a SMI-S Provider and collect information.

To monitor a server using the WBEM protocol:

1. Create a policy or edit an existing policy.

2. In the List of Devices panel, scroll down to the Protocol/Connection Information section to define the WBEM options.

3. Select the Enable WBEM option to enable the utilization of the WBEM protocol.

4. Provide the required WBEM configuration information:

   

   • Enter the Username and Password to use to establish the connection with the device using the WBEM protocol. If no credentials are provided, Hardware Sentry will use the PATROL Agent default account on localhost.
   • Specify the Port Number. By default port 5989 is used for encrypted connections and 5988 for non-encrypted connections.
   • For encrypted connections, check the Encryption option.
   • In the Advanced Options section:
     • Enter the IP address/device name of the Multi-Tier Authentication Server. This option is mostly used for VMware servers. If left blank, the solution will automatically use the WBEM credentials.
     • Enter the WBEM Namespace. Leave blank to let the solution detect the proper namespace (recommended).

5. Click OK to validate.

Using the WMI Protocol

You can use the WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) protocol to communicate directly with a SMI-S Provider/storage system and collect information from systems or devices.

To monitor a server using the WMI protocol:

1. Create a policy or edit an existing policy.

2. In the List of Devices panel, scroll down to the Protocol/Connection Information section to define the WMI options.

3. Select the Enable WMI option to enable the utilization of the WMI protocol.

   

4. Enter the Username and Password to use to establish the connection with the device through the WMI protocol. If no credentials are provided, Hardware Sentry will use the PATROL Agent default account on localhost.

5. Click OK to validate.

Using the Cisco UCS Manager

To collect information about Cisco UCS Blade Chassis and Cisco Fabric Interconnect Switch, you need to provide the required credentials for Cisco UCS (Unified Computing System) Manager.

To monitor a server using the Cisco UCS Manager:

1. Create a policy or edit an existing policy.

2. In the List of Devices panel, scroll down to the Protocol/Connection Information section to define the Cisco UCS Manager options.

3. Select the Enable Cisco UCS option to enable the utilization of the Cisco UCS protocol.

   

4. Enter the Username and Password to use to establish the connection with the Cisco UCS.

5. Uncheck the Encryption option to disable the SSL Encryption for UCS login (HTTPS). By default, the encryption is enabled.

6. Click OK to validate.

Using the IPMI-Over-LAN Protocol

IPMI-Over-LAN is the out-of-band interface used by Hardware Sentry to bypass the usual hardware agents and communicate directly with the motherboard’s BMC chip.

To monitor a server using the IPMI-Over-LAN protocol:

1. Create a policy or edit an existing policy.

2. In the List of Devices panel, scroll down to the Protocol/Connection Information section to define the IPMI-Over-LAN options.

3. Select the Enable IPMI-Over-Lan option to enable the utilization of the IPMI-Over-LAN protocol.

   

4. Enter the Username and Password to use to establish the connection with the IPMI chip out-of-band (IPMI-over-LAN).

5. Click OK to validate.

Setting Global Thresholds

Hardware Sentry includes predefined thresholds that can be imported into TrueSight Operations Management.

IMPORTANT: Although Sentry Software recommends using these predefined thresholds, it is often a good practice to review the threshold template before importing it in TrueSight to ensure that predefined thresholds meet your requirements.

To import predefined thresholds:

1. Download the MS_HW_thresholdtemplate.csv file.

2. Review the content of the MS_HW_thresholdtemplate.csv and possibly update it.

3. Copy the content of the MS_HW_thresholdtemplate.csv file to the thresholdtemplate.csv file located in _<TrueSight Presentation Server installation directory>_\TrueSightPServer\truesightpserver\modules\cma on your TrueSight server.

4. If required, in the resulting thresholdtemplate.csv file, replace bmcrealm with the name of the tenant (from version 11 of TrueSight Operations Management, you can use * to apply these thresholds to all tenants).

5. From a command-line interface, go to _<TrueSight Presentation Server installation directory>_\TrueSightPServer\truesightpserver\bin and execute the command below:

    tssh.bat thresholdtemplate import
   
      +-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
   
      |   BMC TrueSight Presentation Server - Command Line Interface 2017 version 11.0            |
   
      |   Copyright 2014-2017. BMC Software, Inc. as an unpublished work.  All rights reserved.   |
   
      +-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
   
      Importing thresholds template....
   
      Importing thresholds from file "C:/Program Files/BMC Software/TrueSightPServer/truesightpserver\modules\cma\thresholdtemplate.csv"
   
      Successfully imported thresholds template
   

You can further customize these global thresholds to apply specific settings to each attribute of every Monitor Types.

Setting Agent Thresholds

Agent thresholds are range-based thresholds defined on the BMC PATROL Agents. You can define range-based thresholds for the attributes of a Monitor Type (all monitor instances) or a single monitor instance on the PATROL Agents.

To set Agent thresholds:

1. Log on to the TrueSight console.

2. Edit your Hardware monitoring policy:

   

3. Select the Agent Thresholds tab and click Add Agent Threshold.

4. Select Hardware as the Monitoring Solution, the Version, the Monitor Type, the Scope and the Monitor Attribute.

   

5. The Instance SID is required when setting thresholds at the instance level. You will find that information in the TrueSight Infrastructure Management console by placing the cursor on the required instance.

6. Specify under which conditions events will be triggered.

7. Click OK.

8. Click Save.

Setting Server Thresholds

Server thresholds configured for a specific policy override the global thresholds set in the TrueSight console.

1. Log on to the TrueSight console.

2. Edit your Hardware monitoring policy:

   

3. Select the Server Threshold tab and click Add Server Threshold.

4. Select the Monitoring Solution (Hardware), the Version and the Monitor Type.

5. Enter the Monitor Instance Name and select the Monitor Attribute.

   

6. Select the Type of Threshold: Absolute, Signature, or Abnormality.

7. Specify under which conditions events will be triggered. For example, define an event of severity “Major” when the Charge attribute of the specified battery reaches 50% for more than 5 minutes.

8. Click OK.

9. Click Save.

Configuring Alert Actions

Alert Actions enable the administrator to choose specific actions to be executed when a hardware failure is detected. With Alert Actions, it is possible to customize the way a hardware problem notification is performed.

Hardware Sentry can be configured to run one, several, or all types of Alert Actions when an alert is triggered regarding the monitored hardware.

To set the alert actions you want the solution to perform when a problem occurs:

1. Create a policy or edit an existing policy.

2. In the Add Monitoring Configuration, scroll down to the Global Alert Settings section.

3. Define the alert action you wish Hardware Sentry to perform Upon a Hardware Problem and Upon a Connector Failure:

   • A Specific PATROL Event (Default)
   • A STD 41 PATROL Event
   • No Event

   

   A Hardware Health Report is automatically generated when a PATROL Event occurs to provide detailed information about the system impacted by the hardware failure or the threshold breach (ex: device type and label, serial number, etc.).

4. The Enable Annotations option makes the solution annotate the parameter’s graph with a comprehensive report of the problem. Annotations are enabled by default. Uncheck the option if you do not want graphs to be annotated.

5. The Write to This LOG File option enables you to enter the path of a log file where Hardware Sentry will write information about the problem.

6. Click OK to save your settings.

Configuring Alert Delay

Configuring the alert delay consists in indicating the number of consecutive times an attribute has to stay above (or below) the parameter threshold for an alert to be triggered. Setting alert delays can prevent false alerts to be triggered.

To configure the alert delay:

1. Create a policy or edit an existing policy.

2. In the Add Monitoring Configuration panel, scroll down to the Alert Delay section.

   

3. For each parameter type, indicate the number of consecutive times parameters have to stay above or below the defined threshold before an alert is triggered:

   • Numeric parameters (e.g.: Error Count parameters)
   • Discrete parameters (e.g.: Predicted Failure, Need Cleaning, Status, etc.)
   • Connector status parameters
   • Present parameters

4. Click OK to save your settings

Automatically Resetting Error Count Parameters

Error Count parameters keep increasing as new errors are encountered. To reset these parameters, you can configure Hardware Sentry to automatically acknowledge an alert on the Error Count parameters and reset it to zero after a specified period of time.

To automatically reset Error Count parameters:

1. Create a policy or edit an existing policy.

2. In the Add Monitoring Configuration panel, scroll down to the Auto Reset section.

   

3. From the Error Count Parameters list, select the period of time after which you want the solution to automatically reset the Error Count parameters.

4. Click OK to save your settings.

Hardware Sentry will automatically apply the specified settings to the Error Count parameter of the following Monitor Types:

• Hardware Logical Disk
• Hardware Memory Module
• Hardware Physical Disk
• Hardware Processor
• Hardware Robotics
• Hardware Tape Drive

Enabling/Disabling the Missing Device Detection

Enabled by default, the missing device detection mechanism alerts operators when a device that was previously detected in the system is no longer found. If a device is no longer discovered, its Present attribute goes into alarm.

This mechanism is very useful when, for example, a non-redundant physical disk does not restart upon a system reboot and is therefore no longer seen by the operating system and the monitoring software.

The missing device detection feature does not apply to logical disks, voltage and temperature sensors, LEDs, and LUNs.

To disable the missing device detection:

1. Create a policy or edit an existing policy.

2. In the Add Monitoring Configuration panel, scroll down to the Missing Device Detection section.

   

3. Disable Missing Device Detection: Check this box if you no longer want to be alerted when a device goes missing. Deactivating this feature when some missing devices have already been detected will trigger a removal of these devices from the monitoring environment.

4. Delete missing devices: if the “Disable Missing Device Detection” box is unchecked, specify when the missing devices should be deleted:

   • After the number of hours specified below: devices will be removed when the specified time is reached. Enter the desired time in the text field (default: 72).
   • Never: devices will continue to appear in the console even when they are detected as missing.
   • Immediately: devices will be removed from the console as soon as they are detected as missing. An alert will however be triggered before deletion.

   The history of devices that have been removed will be lost.

5. Clean-up Missing Devices on Startup: Select this option if Hardware Sentry triggers false “Missing Device” alerts after a start up (reboot) operation. Occasionally, servers reassign IDs to some devices during start up (reboot). When this situation occurs, Hardware Sentry cannot match these devices with their new IDs and irrelevant alerts are triggered. This option configures the solution to automatically clean-up the list of previously discovered devices when the Agent starts.

   Devices that went missing during the start up (reboot) operation will not be reported as missing.

6. Click OK to save your settings.

Managing Connector Failure

By default, the monitored object instances marked as “Failed Connector” with an OFFLINE status are deleted from the monitored environment after a KM reinitialization or a forced rediscover of the host. However, you can set the solution to automatically clear their associated Monitors after a period of time, if the device is no longer reachable (eg, credentials change, or system is offline)

To customize the KM behavior on connector failures:

1. Create a policy or edit an existing policy.

2. In the Add Monitoring Configuration panel, scroll down to the Connector Failure section.

   

3. On Connector Failure, Delete the Associated Monitors: Select an option:

   • Never (Default)
   • Immediately
   • After the number of hours specified below: Enter the number of hours after which Monitors associated to a Failed Connector instance will be deleted. (Default: 24 hours).

4. Click OK to save your settings.

Configuring the Unknown Status

On rare occasions, Hardware Sentry collects an unexpected value for a monitored device and returns the poll with “Unknown Status”. If this situation occurs, you can configure Hardware Sentry to perform specific actions.

To configure the Unknown Status:

1. Create a policy or edit an existing policy.

2. In the Add Monitoring Configuration panel, scroll down to the Unknown Status section.

   

3. From the Translate Unknown Status Value to list, select the status you wish to apply:

   • Nothing to keep the Status attribute value as Unknown
   • 0 (OK) to set the Status attribute to OK (default)
   • 1 (Warning) to trigger a WARNING on the Status attribute
   • 2 (Alarm) to trigger an ALARM on the Status attribute.

4. Trigger an Internal KM Issue Notification: By default, Hardware Sentry triggers an Internal KM Issue Notification when an unknown status is collected. Un-select this option to disable the notification.

5. Click OK to save your settings.