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Migration to HPOM 9 from Tivoli TEC

News HP Operations Manager Recommended Links HPOM Documentation Tivoli Alternatives  Tivoli Reference
Tivoli Management Framework (TMF) Tivoli Enterprise Console Tivoli Monitoring 5.1 Tivoli Configuration Manager Server Health checking Checking the HPOM Processes HPOM Log Files
Agents agent installation via ssh Installation from local files Deinstallation of agent Adding nodes Agent patching Nodes
node groups Layout groups Message groups HP HPOM Policies Server rotation Event Correlation SiteScope - Operations Manager integration
Server Installation HPOM Troubleshooting Troubleshooting HPOM agents Certificates management Logfile Encapsulation Humor Etc

Note: HP renamed the product called now HP operations manager way too many times. Also it is very inconsistent with using abbreviations. Here we will assume that the term "HP Operations manager" and abbreviations HPOM, OMU, and OVO  mean the same thing :-)

TEC installation actually uses several  separately licensed Tivoli components, so there are substantial savings potential in migration to HPOM 9 which, simplifying, corresponds to Tivoli Framework, Tivoli enterprise console and Tivoli Monitoring combined. Usually a typical enterprise Tivoli deployment consists of those three components and TWS. Sometimes TCM is added to the mix. 

Here are short overviews of three key Tivoli components:

  1. Tivoli Framework: provides basic client-server functionality and connectivity with endpoints ( start, stop, health readings, etc). There can be multiple servers in complex region-based hierarchy, but we use a single server. Generally this part of functionality is a part of HP Operations Manager (HPOM). As HPOM uses HTTPS, the CPU resources consumption on the central server will be higher, but we have very few nodes (around 250 ), so related number of simultaneous SSL connections is manageable on a single server. The fact that a single port is used for communication with endpoints in HPOM 9 is important advantage which makes replacing old infrastructure easier (just changing the port and target server on DMZ firewalls).
     
  2. Tivoli enterprise console (TEC): provides functionality similar to HP Operations Manager with ECS Designer licensed. Event console is also a part of TEC with very similar Java implementation of approximately the same quality. There are some additional unique features like "event concentrators" (gateways) and event pre-filtering capability on gateways which are important in high volume environment for preventing event storms, but the latter can be replicated by installing correlation engine directly of selected endpoints or using several HPOM servers connected hierarchically. Operator console looks sufficiently similar for operators to move to new system without much hassle. Data storage of events is in Oracle database exactly like in HPOM 9.

    Like Operations Manager TEC provides several adaptors of "foreign" message streams. Two that we use are:

    This functionality exists in HPOM 9 out of the box. Actually I suspect that logadapter functionality in HPOM 9 is more usable then in TEC "out of the box" (in TEC you need to modify processing rules for various flavors of Unix manually).

    The central part of TEC is so called correlation engine, which is programmable (in Prolog) software that correlates messages. Large number of called rules sets that contains correlation rules is shipped with TEC. We did not customized the set of correlation rules that came with TEC that much, so it is difficult to say what problems we might encounter during the transition. We do know that we need to replicate functionality related to job scheduler.

    Look like HPOM 9.01 correlation engine (with ESS designer licensed) is rated in correlations capabilities similarly to TEC (if we believe Gartner judgment ;-).

    Also TEC provides IBM-supplied set of rules with some common sense correlations for job-related messages. For example: job started and takes longer then predefined mount of time - job stalled. In TEC event messages can also be auto-closed based on various criteria of closed by another (so called closing) message. I

    TEC console is often used as central enterprise event console with event streams from other product integrated. For example Oracle Enterprise Manager(EM).  Usually only critical messages from them are displayed so it need some filtering. 
     

  3. Tivoli Monitoring: Many organization are still using monitoring 5.1 (please note that Tivoli monitoring 6.x is much more powerful product acquired by IBM from Candle and it itself competes with HPOM). The main usage in most organizations  is for monitoring of space of filesystems and that functionality is easy to replicate in HPOM 9.

Here are some points that might help you to understand the scope and complexity of migration:

Probes (aka smart plug-ins in HPOM-speak can be written in any scripting language including Perl and shell.

Actually one additional typical Tivoli component that is not included in HPOM is TWS -- Tivoli Workload scheduler and migration from it is a separate topic; it will not be discussed here. Many TEC installations also have Tivoli configuration manager (TCM) installed. The latter provides upgrades of endpoints and execution of scripts on multiple endpoints as well as delivery of files to multiple endpoints. This is important functionality for most IT organizations (very convenient for distribution of some configuration changes, scripts, etc to set of endpoints and gathering information from endpoints). It can work with arbitrary selection of endpoints (for example all, only Linux, only AIX, etc). HPOM provides basic capability with ovdeploy utility, but generally due to universal availability of SSH some package on top of SSH is a better deal and usually pretty cheap solution to the migration of TCM problem. 

Paradoxically, despite selling a superior product, HP does not have any documentation on migration from Tivoli to  HPOM 9.0. The best published methodology for migration from TEC is, paradoxically, IBM's redbook Best Practices for IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console to Netcool/Omnibus Upgrade. While devoted to transition from "classic" TEC to Netcool/Omnibus considerable part of content is valuable as a guide for migration from TEC to HPOM 9 as new Tivoli like is essentially an acquired products that has nothing to do with old "classic" Tivoli. 

There are two strategies for migration from TEC:

The Linux platform is becoming increasingly popular for hosting ESM solution as Intel based servers are much cheaper that equivalent RISK-based servers from IBM, Sun, etc. The only realistic alternative is Solaris on Intel.

Recently much work has been done in the Linux kernel to ensure that it has the functionality suitable for enterprise deployment.

Please note that default installation of HPOM does not include HP Operations Smart Plug-ins for Windows, UNIX, and web servers. Those need to be downloaded and installed separately. They are extremely primitive that the only real purpose they can serve and as prototypes for something better: 

Pre-defined management policies for Windows, UNIX, and Web Servers, complimentary with HP Operations:

HP Smart Plug-ins (SPIs) are fully integrated, out-of-the-box solutions for managing specific IT elements, mostly applications. They work seamlessly with HP Software products.

HP Operations provides complimentary Smart Plug-Ins for Windows, UNIX and Web Servers. Pre-defined management policies for the OS and web server layer enable you to quickly gain control of the essential elements of your IT infrastructure.

Smart Plug-ins for Windows and UNIX re-use operating system data collected by HP Performance Agent, if deployed, and allow for central configuration of alarm setting in a large-scale IT environment. But they also work standalone.

Features

It make sense to document what are you doing. Actually migration dramatically improves understanding of Tivoli if not HP Operations Manager :-).

During the planning phase, the key issue are

Event processing usually does not represent too big a problem as facilities of HPOM are adequate for "imitating" useful part of TEC. Please note that most firms use TEC in extremely primitive way so they can actually benefit form more user friendly event processing and correlation infrastructure that HPOM provides.

Situation with filesystem monitoring is more complex. As a minimum you need to create infrastructure for regular filesystems monitoring and Oracle archive filesystem monitoring. Tivoli Monitoring 5.x while primitive does provide ability to create hierarchical set of filesystem monitoring profiles. Say one "universal" profile is used for monitoring standard Unix filesystems such as /usr/, tmp. /var and then individual profiles are used to monitoring filesystems that are critical for partial box or set of boxes.

During the planning phase, the key issue is how to implement filesystems monitoring. As a minimum you need to create infrastructure for regular filesystems monitoring and Oracle archive filesystem monitoring.

HP does not provide any useful monitoring scripts with HPOM and sample that it provides for monitoring root filesystem is a joke. So here you need to do write some custom scripts. 

Multiple HPOM servers cam be placed strategically throughout your enterprise. Typically, you can use one servers per large datacenter.  If necessary they can be placed behind firewall as the

The most time consuming task is configuration of nodes. This includes defining Node Groups, Message Groups,  Operators

HPOM corrective actions can be automated and/or manual. For example in case of Oracle archive files automatic response is better.

In large installation there can be several types of HPOM users

Operator view of environment may exclude non-essential servers.

The following is a list of questions that may help in the HPOM planning phase:

  1. How many HPOM servers are required?

  2. Which OS will the server run on?

  3. Where will the server be located?

  4. Do firewalls exist between the HPOM server and client?

  5. Which systems/apps need to be monitored?

  6. Which systems/ apps are mission critical?

  7. What service levels are required? (Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze)

  8. Which templates need to be assigned?

  9. Who will deal with the problems?

  10. Will HPOM be linked to a external helpdesk?

  11. Which SPIs are available to monitor applications?

  12. How many operators views are required?

  13. What node groups should be configured?

  14. What message groups should be configured?

  15. Which applications require template and/or application development?

The Applications

HPOM can monitor applications. Many applications have custom monitoring packages of high quality and in such cases all you need to forward messages to HPOM .  Typical enterprise applications include:

SPIs exist for the three applications: SAP R3, WebSphere, and Microsoft Exchange Server.  Quality is low so you might be better off with alternative solutions.


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NEWS CONTENTS

Old News

[Aug 07, 2010] HP Tech Installation and Startup services for HP OpenView

This is a a pre-packaged service from HP Professional services which in modified form is available for HPOM 9.0. They charge approximately $40K for installation of the server and 50 clients.

[Aug 07, 2010] Best Practices for IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console to Netcool/OMNIbus Upgrade

The acquisition of Micromuse® Inc. brings new opportunities for all involved in IBM® Systems Management discipline, and the development of a new and exciting strategy.

This IBM Redbooks® publication should be used when planning and implementing an integration and upgrade strategy from TEC to OMNIbus. In this book we provide recommended best practices and describe strategies for upgrading existing installations in a way that should best suit the needs of existing TEC-based environments.

The audience for this book is anyone involved in the Systems Management discipline, but it applies primarily to both those with a Tivoli or Netcool background, and is aimed at customers with an existing Tivoli Enterprise Console® investment who are looking to evaluate the comparative characteristics of TEC and Netcool/OMNIbus™ , so that they can perform a system upgrade.

Depending on the complexity of the existing environment and the depth of the requirements, this upgrade could be a significant project, but we aim with this book to make it as straightforward and as successful as possible.

We have structured the book to first introduce a quick overview of the products, highlighting the key benefits of Netcool/OMNIbus so that both audiences can become familiar with the different concepts. Then the architectures of both products are discussed in more detail, concluding with some typical scenarios.

Part 2, "Strategies" on page101, reviews planning and strategy. It begins with detailed guidelines on assessing the existing customer environment in order to identify how TEC is currently deployed. We discuss considerations to make and how to plan the activities required to upgrade. Then different upgrade scenarios are presented with a best practice recommendation that the reader can adapt to his environment.

At this point we would like to stress that this book builds on the utilities provided by the Tivoli and Netcool Integration Event Flow package (downloadable from the IBM OPAL Web site), and the recommendations from the Tivoli & Netcool Event Flow Integration white paper. The main distinction is that they cover various event integration scenarios, whereas we, in addition, map out a complete upgrade path to OMNIbus in our recommended strategy.

The implementation of the suggested strategy is then covered in Chapter 2, "Configuring the event sources" on page277. We describe in detail the steps required to achieve the upgrade with the core components, and discuss other tasks to also keep in mind. A wide range of different rule processing examples are provided, giving comparative and practical guidance, providing a valuable asset for the rule programmer.

Finally, additional technical details on configurations and scripts used and other valuable references can be found in Appendix 2, "Lab configuration" on page367.

Table of contents

Part 1. Overview
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Architecture
Part 2. Strategies
Chapter 3. TEC environmental assessment and planning guidelines
Chapter 4. Upgrade strategies
Part 3. Implementation
Chapter 5. Upgrading to an IBM Tivoli Netcool environment
Chapter 6. Event processing
Chapter 7. Configuring the event sources
Appendix A. Lab configuration
Appendix B. Additional material

[Jul 28, 2010] OMiDeepDive2009Jul

Presentation that provides some information about OMi and event correlation.

GroundWork Monitor vs. HP Operations Manager GroundWork Open Source (GWOS)

In 2007, a whopping $4.3 billion was spent on availability, performance, and network management-33% of the total budget for IT Operations Management. 70% of this was spent on the Big-Four solutions, BMC, CA Unicenter, HP Operations Manager (formerly OpenView), and IBM Tivoli.

Curious about just how much HP monitoring solutions cost, line item by line item?

This twelve-page paper provides a head-to-head cost comparison of GroundWork Monitor, HP Operations Manager, and associated products, finding that GroundWork provides an 82% cost savings over three years.

Recommended Links

Best Practices for IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console to Netcool/OMNIbus Upgrade

Table of contents

Part 1. Overview
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Architecture
Part 2. Strategies
Chapter 3. TEC environmental assessment and planning guidelines
Chapter 4. Upgrade strategies
Part 3. Implementation
Chapter 5. Upgrading to an IBM Tivoli Netcool environment
Chapter 6. Event processing
Chapter 7. Configuring the event sources
Appendix A. Lab configuration
Appendix B. Additional material

[PDF] Migrating to BMC Event Manager from IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console -- contains some useful recommendation for migration.

[PDF] TEC to Netcool Migration By Andy Bentley

Vivit Worldwide - Deep Dive HP Operations Manager i

HP OMi TBEC concepts and operation HP Enterprise TV Online Videos and Podcasts

HP Operations Manager i software - HP - BTO Software

Downloads

Download Center - HP - BTO Software



Etc

Society

Groupthink : Two Party System as Polyarchy : Corruption of Regulators : Bureaucracies : Understanding Micromanagers and Control Freaks : Toxic Managers :   Harvard Mafia : Diplomatic Communication : Surviving a Bad Performance Review : Insufficient Retirement Funds as Immanent Problem of Neoliberal Regime : PseudoScience : Who Rules America : Neoliberalism  : The Iron Law of Oligarchy : Libertarian Philosophy

Quotes

War and Peace : Skeptical Finance : John Kenneth Galbraith :Talleyrand : Oscar Wilde : Otto Von Bismarck : Keynes : George Carlin : Skeptics : Propaganda  : SE quotes : Language Design and Programming Quotes : Random IT-related quotesSomerset Maugham : Marcus Aurelius : Kurt Vonnegut : Eric Hoffer : Winston Churchill : Napoleon Bonaparte : Ambrose BierceBernard Shaw : Mark Twain Quotes

Bulletin:

Vol 25, No.12 (December, 2013) Rational Fools vs. Efficient Crooks The efficient markets hypothesis : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2013 : Unemployment Bulletin, 2010 :  Vol 23, No.10 (October, 2011) An observation about corporate security departments : Slightly Skeptical Euromaydan Chronicles, June 2014 : Greenspan legacy bulletin, 2008 : Vol 25, No.10 (October, 2013) Cryptolocker Trojan (Win32/Crilock.A) : Vol 25, No.08 (August, 2013) Cloud providers as intelligence collection hubs : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : Inequality Bulletin, 2009 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Copyleft Problems Bulletin, 2004 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Energy Bulletin, 2010 : Malware Protection Bulletin, 2010 : Vol 26, No.1 (January, 2013) Object-Oriented Cult : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2011 : Vol 23, No.11 (November, 2011) Softpanorama classification of sysadmin horror stories : Vol 25, No.05 (May, 2013) Corporate bullshit as a communication method  : Vol 25, No.06 (June, 2013) A Note on the Relationship of Brooks Law and Conway Law

History:

Fifty glorious years (1950-2000): the triumph of the US computer engineering : Donald Knuth : TAoCP and its Influence of Computer Science : Richard Stallman : Linus Torvalds  : Larry Wall  : John K. Ousterhout : CTSS : Multix OS Unix History : Unix shell history : VI editor : History of pipes concept : Solaris : MS DOSProgramming Languages History : PL/1 : Simula 67 : C : History of GCC developmentScripting Languages : Perl history   : OS History : Mail : DNS : SSH : CPU Instruction Sets : SPARC systems 1987-2006 : Norton Commander : Norton Utilities : Norton Ghost : Frontpage history : Malware Defense History : GNU Screen : OSS early history

Classic books:

The Peter Principle : Parkinson Law : 1984 : The Mythical Man-MonthHow to Solve It by George Polya : The Art of Computer Programming : The Elements of Programming Style : The Unix Hater’s Handbook : The Jargon file : The True Believer : Programming Pearls : The Good Soldier Svejk : The Power Elite

Most popular humor pages:

Manifest of the Softpanorama IT Slacker Society : Ten Commandments of the IT Slackers Society : Computer Humor Collection : BSD Logo Story : The Cuckoo's Egg : IT Slang : C++ Humor : ARE YOU A BBS ADDICT? : The Perl Purity Test : Object oriented programmers of all nations : Financial Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : The Most Comprehensive Collection of Editor-related Humor : Programming Language Humor : Goldman Sachs related humor : Greenspan humor : C Humor : Scripting Humor : Real Programmers Humor : Web Humor : GPL-related Humor : OFM Humor : Politically Incorrect Humor : IDS Humor : "Linux Sucks" Humor : Russian Musical Humor : Best Russian Programmer Humor : Microsoft plans to buy Catholic Church : Richard Stallman Related Humor : Admin Humor : Perl-related Humor : Linus Torvalds Related humor : PseudoScience Related Humor : Networking Humor : Shell Humor : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2012 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2013 : Java Humor : Software Engineering Humor : Sun Solaris Related Humor : Education Humor : IBM Humor : Assembler-related Humor : VIM Humor : Computer Viruses Humor : Bright tomorrow is rescheduled to a day after tomorrow : Classic Computer Humor

The Last but not Least Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand ~Archibald Putt. Ph.D


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