HPOM (OVO) Policies

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 :-)

Policies provide a non-procedural mechanism to process information from various sources on the server were agent installed.  Internally policy is represented by XML document. A centrally distribuited copy of a policy is stored on each node to which it is assigned.

You distribute the policies to those managed nodes from which you want to collect and process specific events. The are several types of policies in HPOM. Management of the policies is the most challenging part of HPOM administration.

We will assume that initial set of variables that was detected my an interceptor constitute an HPOM event. After the event is processed by policy it become a message. There are two level of processing of event in HPOM -- node level and server level. Generally event interception is performed by one of the conditions that constitute relevant policy. This condition can output message (which is the same data structure but possibility with modified fields) that is forwarded to the server.  Or it can discard the message completely.

The second level is the management server level. Here the messages that was the output of one condition on the policy on the node is received and placed into the HPOM database. The message is also delivered to the message browser which provides different views for each type of the users (operators, administrators, etc).

Each condition specified the set of events it accepts and processing that is performed during convertion of an avent into the message before sending message to Operator GUI and possible actions for each condition.  Typical action is invoking some script. 

Policies are identified by their names, versions, and types, or by their UUIDs. A policy type is a policy attribute that determines the rules to which policy bodies must adhere.  In addition to the policy types predefined in HPOM, custom policy types can be created by the user.  On the client policies are stored in the directory:

/var/opt/OV/datafiles/policies

The policy header contains attributes such as name, type, version, and so on. The data information part usually consists of a set of rules for covering stream of messages on the managed node to which the policy is deployed into events displayed on HPOM server.

Most policies are "fed" with messages generated from two message generation components opcmsg or opcmon (several other source are log files are availble).

HPOM messages have  format that consists of two parts:

• a set of fixed (system) attributes. See Policy variables

• a set of user defined attributes. See Patterns in HP HPOM

Generated message first in processed by the agent on the server where it was generated. Message is processes if and only if  it is matched one of the policies installed on the node.  It can discarded or converted into other message. the latter is delivered to operator console.

For Open Message Interface a generic policy is provided by HP (called opcmsg 1|3 ) that can be tuned to forward messages that you want to operator console without and additional processing ("as is").

Each policy includes a complete set of rules (also called conditions) to handle a single information source such as a logfile.  Conditions specified which messages match them, how this message should be transformed before sending it to operator and also can specify scripts or binaries that can be invoked during the processing of the message of the same or any other node. Conditions also have capability to suppress unwanted messages.

In HPOM version 9 policies is typically created using administrator GUI interface. The policy instructs the agent on how to access the source, and what the “rule” is for managing the source (for example, what events to act on or suppress).

Several default policy policies are installed on the management server.

Many additional "off the shelf" policies are part of the set of Smart Plug-Ins (SPI) that are shipped with the system. They can only serve as examples and their production value is minimal. Also they are often way too convoluted to be useful. Installing them is clutter the system and can be recommended only on experimental server to see "what is what".  Only if you are sure that HP supplied smart plug-in is useful you can install it on production server. But such conclusions is a pretty rare event: most of supplied by HP smart plug-ins are very and by-and-large weak clutter the server and produce spam. Especially bad are bridge to Sitescope, bridge to Data Protector and several others.  Never install them unless you fully understand what you are doing. If a consultant recommend them during the initial HPOM installation it is prudent to send him/her to hell ;-)

Types of Policies

Policies are essentially non-procedural rules for processing incoming messages. They have elements which select message from the stream based on values of attributes of the message. This part of policy is called the event interceptor. There are several types of the events interceptors, one for each type of message.  There are half-dozen policy types in HPOM:

1. Open Message  interface policies  (process messages generated by opcmsg command or API). Used to link to an existing application or program to produce an HPOM message. This may be a command line (via opcmsg  utility that is present on each and every node) or API call. All assigned policies are processed one by one, before forwarding an unmatched message to the management server.

   If the message is matched by a suppress condition, but Forward Unmatched is set in another policy, the message is suppressed. Suppress Unmatched conditions only suppress a message for that policy but forward messages that are unmatched by other policies to the management server. Configuring Your Own Application-Specific Policies When you modify preconfigured HPOM policies and conditions, make sure they are saved under the different version.

   Scripts that implement this type of policies can be augmented with additional files via HPOM Instrumentation Categories
    

2. Measurement Threshold policies. Used to monitor numeric values passed from opcmon  utility. Useful for performance monitoring and can use external programs to obtain values. If script is listed without path it will be loaded iether from instrumentation directory or from /root path.  There is both a command line interface (opcmon  utility) and API call for monitors. 
   • Service Process Monitoring: A special monitor to track specific services and processes. This is a unique form of the Measurement Threshold.
   • Performance metric monitoring. Performance measurement component of the agent is called coda. It collects approximately 30 metrics with interval of five minutes. So using in policy interval less then that does not provide anything new. One important metric is CPU utilization. So in many cases you can avoid massaging uptime if you have HPOM :-).
   • SNMP variables monitoring
3. Scheduled Task policies. Used to manage routine system tasks that range from backups to cleanup operations. Scheduler defines time interval from the moment the policy was loaded so it this is 24 hours interval then the next execution will be in 24 hours from the distribution of policy to nodes.
4. Logfile Encapulation Policies. Used to monitor logfiles. The logifies need to be, or can converted to, readable text with one line per event. There are two major sources of log events:
   • Unix syslog.
   • Windows Event Log : Similar to Logfile Entry, but specific to the Windows
5. SNMP interceptor. Used to intercept SNMP traps. These often contain useful event information and may also contain additional data about the event.
6. Event Correlation policies. A special policy that links with the Event Correlation System to provide correlation of messages.
7. Windows Management Interface (WMI). WMI is specific to Windows and can read both numeric and text information.

Internally a policy is a set of files containing header (in XML) and and one or more policy bodies that permit processing of messages. Each policy body includes XML representation of a set of rules (also called conditions) to handle a single source of messages such as a logfile.

Structure of the policy

Structure of the policy is dependent on the type of the policy. For two most popular types see

• Open Message Interface Policies
• Measurement Threshold Policies

Assignment of policies

Policies can be assigned to nodes, node groups, and policy groups. After assignment of the policy you need to initiate a separate operation of distribution of the policy to get policy to all nodes to which it was assigned.

Storage of policies

Each policy has a policy type, which means that its bodies conform to a specific set of rules. Policies are stored by type with each type of policies in its own subdirectory. For example: 

• configsettings/
• monitor/
• msgi/
• sched/

Operations on policies

More then a dozen operations are possible on policies. Among them

1. create
2. edit
3. remove,
4. assign policy to a node or a node group
5. deassign policy from a node or a node group
6. enable/disable
7. list. List policies installed on the node.
8. deploy. Policies need to downloaded to nodes before then will be used. This process is called deployment and it is manual operation performed by the administrator. Policies are deployed to managed nodes either using Admin GUI or command line commands.   
9. copy. Sometimes it is necessary to copy and customize a default policy or more rarely custom policy. For example, you may need multiple policy groups with different monitoring, alarm, and notification thresholds for multiple node groups. After the policy is customized, it is assigned and distributed to the managed node or node group.

Working with Policy Policies from the GUI

After you decide which policy type you need, the next steps include:

• Select that policy type from a default group or add a new policy group.
• Create a new policy in the policy group or copy and rename an existing policy into the new group.
• Add your customizations.
• Assign the policy to the node.
• Distribute the policy

During execution, the monitor policy is used by the monitor program to send or suppress messages. The process to accomplish this task is summarized in the following list.

1. The monitor process (opcmona) executes an external program or script to determine the status of system or application run-time parameters.

2. The external program or script (called a monitor program) submits the value to the agent using the program called opcmon.

3. The agent compares the value against the threshold (high or low) configured in the policy
   • A message is generated based on the threshold criteria.

4. A list of conditions determines if a message is sent to the server or suppressed.

Selecting a message for processing by a policy

A message source is used for selecting which policy should process particular message. You can use several attributes for this purpose: 

• Message Attributes Message attributes are characteristics that the HPOM administrator can use to classify a message when it is received by the management server. Message attributes are, for example, the severity of a message, the node where the message is generated, the application or object related to the event, and the message group for the message. These default attributes can be set in the message source policies, but are overwritten by values set in message conditions. HPOM displays message attributes in the Java GUI browser.
• Custom Message Attributes Custom message attributes allow you to extend HPOM messages by adding additional information to the message, for example, the customer name, the type of Service Level Agreement, a device type, and so on. HPOM displays custom message attributes in the Java GUI browser where the operator can sort and filter messages based on these attributes. Use the opccmachg command-line tool to assign attributes of your choice to a message. For usage details, see the opccmachg(1m) manpage. Custom message attributes can only be set for message conditions for log file, HPOM interface, threshold monitor policies, SNMP Trap Interceptor (trap) and Scheduled tasks. For more information on custom message attributes, see the HPOM HTTPS Agent Concepts and Configuration Guide.
• Message Correlation Options You can assign a message key to the message, decide which messages should be automatically acknowledged by this message key (state-based browser), and choose how HPOM suppresses duplicate messages. The assigning of message keys prevents identical messages from filling up the Java GUI Message Browser. Use keyword SUPP_DUPL_IDENT to suppress messages matching the message key. For the Duplicate Message Suppression method, you can do the following:
  • Specify an interval of time over which HPOM suppresses duplicate messages. HPOM retransmits the messages when this time interval elapses.
  • Specify a threshold for a duplicate message counter. HPOM increments the counter until it crosses the threshold, and then allows the transmission of the duplicate message.
• Pattern-matching Options You can specify field separators and case-sensitive checks used by policies when scanning messages. Use keywords ICASE and SEPARATORS to define case-sensitive checks and field separators respectively.
• Output Options for a Message Stream Interface(MSI). You can choose whether HPOM should output messages to an external message stream interface, reinjecting it iether to agent message stream, server message stream or both. Default is "no MSI" for both

Default per policy message processing attributes

Use the following keywords to define how policy will process messages:

• MPI_SV_COPY_MSG Send the message to MSI as well as the server processes.
• MPI_SV_DIVERT_MSG Divert the message to MSI and do not send it to server processes.
• MPI_SV_NO_OUTPUT Do not send message to MSI (default).

These default attributes are set globally at the policy level, but can be overridden by a message condition. For more information about policy body syntax

Processing of messages

HPOM allows the administrator to configure multiple policies with different message and suppress conditions for each message source. When an event occurs, it is filtered in parallel by all policies assigned to that managed node. As soon as a condition applies, the message is handled according to the options specified in the policy. It is therefore important to understand how messages are filtered by HPOM to avoid filling the browser with unimportant messages or losing important messages.

By processing multiple policies at the same time HPOM is capable of handling, in parallel, several policies of the same type for one node. In this process, no priority is given to any policy, rather each policy is handled as an independent entity.

A message that matches the suppress or suppress unmatched condition in one policy will be suppressed only for the processing in that policy. However, a message could still match a message condition in another policy and create an HPOM message for the responsible operator.

For more information about how to improve performance in a multiple-policy configuration, see Condition Matching Optimization

• Filtering Messages Events: create messages that are intercepted by HPOM, and filtered by the message source policies.
• Assigning Default Settings Policies:  assign default settings to the message.
• Checking Message Conditions: The message is checked against a list of conditions. The first matched condition determines further processing.
• Forwarding Messages: If the message does not match any condition, and the Forward Unmatched attribute has been set in the policy, the unmatched message (containing the default values of the policy) is forwarded.
• Logging Messages: If you have configured local logging or log-only for unmatched messages, HPOM logs the message accordingly. One event can generate several HPOM messages as each policy is configured differently and reacts to the problem in its unique way.

Forwarding Unmatched Messages

Using the FORWARDUNMATCHED keyword in multiple policies can lead to you receiving multiple messages from a single event. Each policy with the FORWARDUNMATCHED keyword creates a message with the default values of the policy.

Application-specific policies and generic policies handle multiple messages differently:

• Application-specific Policies Use the SUPP_UNM_CONDITIONS keyword to receive relevant messages only.
• Generic Policies Use the FORWARDUNMATCHED keyword to receive also unmatched messages beside relevant ones. Only policies of the following type do not generate multiple messages from a single event:
• Log file policies
• SNMP Trap policies

The administrator can create, edit, and delete policies, as well as assign the policies to a policy group. Conditions are defined for each policy, and further options are specified. For detailed information about setting up a message source policy, see the HPOM Administrator’s Reference.

CAUTION If you do not define any conditions for a message source policy, and if the FORWARDUNMATCHED keyword is present in the policy body, HPOM intercepts all messages from that message source. This interception of all messages could lead to a large number of unmatched messages reaching the Message Browser.

HPOM enables you to create multiple policies for the same message source. Create your own policies and conditions for all message sources, rather than modifying the preconfigured policies. CAUTION When you upgrade HPOM to a higher version, all modified policies are lost.

Evaluating Message Sources

The first step in implementing a policy is to review existing message sources. Where to Look for Messages Evaluate the following message sources:

• Application and system log files
• Applications using the HPOM message API opcmsg(3)
• Applications using the HPOM command interface opcmsg(1)
• Monitored objects
• Performance metrics
• Monitored SNMP MIB values
• Applications sending SNMP traps How to Evaluate Messages Evaluate the messages by using the following criteria:
• Effect of events on end user
• Level of severity
• Frequency of occurrence
• File format in terms of readability (that is, binary or plain text format)
• Language and character set
• Network traffic and performance

NEWS CONTENTS

• 20120203 : How to create a SNMP policy on OMU9 from a MIB file ( How to create a SNMP policy on OMU9 from a MIB file, Feb 03, 2012 )
• 20101206 : import template to OMW ( Jun 9, 2009 , IT Resource Center forums )
• 20101206 : Where are the policy stored ( Feb 18, 2010 , IT Resource Center forums )
• 20101206 : Not able to copy any policy in HPOM 9 ( Sep 4, 2010 , IT Resource Center forums )

Old News ;-)

[Feb 03, 2012] How to create a SNMP policy on OMU9 from a MIB file

[Dec 06, 2010] import template to OMW

Jun 9, 2009 | IT Resource Center forums

Huong Trinh:

I exported HPOM templates to template.out file. transferred it over to the OMW and ran command:

D:\Migrate>importpolicies /f ovu-templates.out /c iso82 Using codeset 'iso88592'. Unsupported syntax used in file.

Import failed!

D:\Migrate>importpolicies /f ovu-templates.out /c iso85 Using codeset 'iso88595'. Unsupported syntax used in file.

Import failed!

D:\Migrate>importpolicies /f ovu-templates.out /c iso815 Using codeset 'iso885915'. Unsupported syntax used in file.

Import failed!

D:\Migrate>importpolicies /f ovu-templates.out Using codeset 'ascii'. File Error! - File doesn't exist or contains a policy using unsupported syntax.

Import failed!

Is there something I am missing?

Note: If you are the author of this question and wish to assign points to any of the answers, please login first.For more information on assigning points ,click here

Srihari S:

Please check if you have any Special Chracters in the template name.

Alos if i am not wrong the description size if it is more than 255, try reducing and export/import.

Convert OVO for UNIX Operations templates to HPOM for Windows policies.

• Download the templates from the OVO for UNIX management server using the command opccfgdwn (see OVO for UNIX documentation) to a config download package.
• Copy the download package to the HPOM for Windows management server. If any template names contain any special characters, open the config download package and remove them. Special characters are not allowed in policy file names.
• Upload the templates to the HPOM for Windows management server, where they become policies. Use the command ImportPolicies , as described above.
• Customize the policies as required

Huong Trinh

Sorry I used the wrong command to download the templates. needed to use opccfgdwn. thanks guys

[Dec 06, 2010] Where are the policy stored

Feb 18, 2010 | IT Resource Center forums

GrunderWolf

Hi I am using OMW 8.10 and I have done a full backup. I have created so new policies and am wondering where are this polcies stored so i can just make a copy in case I need to resotre a full backup I can just paste these policy back.

Ram:

Hello

If you have created custom policies - the best way to back them up would be to copy all these policies to a custom policy group.

Then you can use the tool ovpmutil to download the policy group locally to your OMW server. Then you can back these files for future use.

You can use the same ovpmutil tool to upload these policies back again to the OMW server in future as well.

You can see more details about ovpmutil tool in OMW Online Help. It will also give you syntax and usage examples for this tool.

Hope this helps. Regards Ram

[Dec 06, 2010] Not able to copy any policy in HPOM 9

Sep 4, 2010 | IT Resource Center forums

SWATI SHARMA

m not able to copy,create or modify any policy. When i click on the save button the following error is coming :

Error Edited policy/policy group had errors.

The following errors/warnings occurred while processing the request:

Parameter incomplete (OPC_ERR_INCOMPLETE_PARAM=-24) additional information: Policy not found: name "copy_of_Abend log", version <none>, type_id a2ef318b-b52d-11d2-a40a-080009ee02a7, id <none>, container_id <none>. Policy not found: name "copy_of_Abend log", version <none>, type_id a2ef318b-b52d-11d2-a40a-080009ee02a7, id <none>, container_id <none>. Error accessing policy body copy_of_Abend+log_9d7ecbbc-d4f1-71de-178d-7d3eb6c80000_data. Database: ORA-02448: constraint does not exist An error occured while uploading policy 9295fc86-b7f2-71df-0138-7d3eb6c80000_header.xml to database

Can anybody plz suggest why this error is coming.

Thanks Swati

AsHiSh JoHaRi

Okay....

Try reloading/refreshing policies...

Use below command:--

bash# opcdbidx -all

& then continue...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SWATI SHARMA

Issue is resolved.

After running this command :

opcdbinst -ac

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Last modified: March 12, 2019