Tivoli IBM Tivoli Monitoring


Version 6.1.0

User’s Guide

IBM Confidential SC32-9409-00

 Tivoli IBM Tivoli Monitoring
®


Version 6.1.0

User’s Guide

IBM Confidential SC32-9409-00

 IBM Confidential

Note!
Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in Appendix F, “Notices,” on page 241.

Second Edition (November 2005)

This edition applies to version 6 release 1 of IBM® Tivoli® Monitoring (product number 5724-C04 ) and to all
subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions.
© Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2005. All rights reserved.
US Government Users Restricted Rights – Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract
with IBM Corp.
IBM Confidential

Contents
Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii About monitoring agents . . . . . . . . . . 10
Navigator Physical view . . . . . . . . . 11
Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Managed system status . . . . . . . . . 11
IBM Tivoli Monitoring alert manager . . . . . 11
Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
About this guide . . . . . . . . . . . xi Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Who should read this guide . . . . .. xi . . .
Publications . . . . . . . . . .. xi . . .
Chapter 3. Getting started . . . . . . 15
IBM Tivoli Monitoring library . . .. xi . . .
Starting theTivoli Enterprise Portal client . . . . 15
Accessing terminology online . . . . . . . xii
Starting the client as a desktop application . . . 15
Accessing publications online . . . . . . . xii
Starting the client from Internet Explorer . . . 15
Ordering publications. . . . . . . . . . xiii
Tivoli Enterprise Portal window . . . . . . . 15
Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Your User ID and Access to Features . . . . . . 16
Tivoli technical training . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Who are the users? . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Support information . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Access to features, applications, and Navigator
Conventions used in this guide . . . . . . . xiv
views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Typeface conventions . . . . . . . . . . xiv
Completing the lessons . . . . . . . . . . 20
Tivoli command syntax . . . . . . . . . xiv
Notes to the system administrator . . . . . . 20
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Chapter 1. Tivoli Distributed Monitoring
users and Candle OMEGAMON users . . 1 Chapter 4. Monitoring: real-time and
For Tivoli Distributed Monitoring users . . . . . 1
event-based . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
For CandleNet Portal users . . . . . . . . . 1
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Tivoli Enterprise Console view . . . . . . . 1
Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Launch application . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Embedding situations . . . . . . . . . . 1
What’s Next? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Correlating situations . . . . . . . . . . 1
Lesson: Navigating through workspaces . . . . . 24
Manage situation status . . . . . . . . . . 1
Expanding and collapsing the tree . . . . . . 24
Universal message console . . . . . . . . . 2
Opening workspaces . . . . . . . . . . 26
Specify data ranges for gauge charts . . . . . 2
Multiple workspaces . . . . . . . . . . 26
Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server predefined
Linking to a workspace . . . . . . . . . 26
queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Going back and forward . . . . . . . . . 27
Export a data view . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Lesson: Using workspaces . . . . . . . . . 27
Manage policy status . . . . . . . . . . 2
What the enterprise workspace shows . . . . 28
Workflow editor activities . . . . . . . . . 2
Refreshing a workspace . . . . . . . . . 28
Telnet support for terminal view . . . . . . . 2
Stop loading a workspace . . . . . . . . 29
Formula functions: change in value and percent
Creating multiple windows . . . . . . . . 29
change in value . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Lesson: Using views . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Local Time and Universal Time selectable day and
Viewing full screen . . . . . . . . . . . 29
month attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Minimizing the Navigator . . . . . . . . 29
Hexadecimal support in formula editors . . . . 3
Information on mouseover . . . . . . . . 30
Expand Navigator branches in increments . . . 3
Lesson: Responding to alerts . . . . . . . . 30
Remove an offline managed system. . . . . . 3
Lights in the Navigator . . . . . . . . . 30
New user ID authorities . . . . . . . . . 3
Opening the situation event workspace . . . . 31
Agent deployment from a single point of control . 3
Acknowledging a situation event . . . . . . 32
New terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Closing the situation event workspace . . . . 33
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Chapter 2. Introduction . . . . . . . . 5
IBM Tivoli Monitoring components . . . . . . . 5
Chapter 5. Custom workspaces . . . . 35
Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Workspace Views . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Data views . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Situation event views . . . . . . . . . . 35
Tivoli Enterprise Portal features . . . . . . . . 6
Other views . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Application window . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Lesson: Customizing a workspace . . . . . . . 36
Features and functions . . . . . . . . . . 7
Saving a new workspace . . . . . . . . . 37

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Adding a view . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Review the query . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Multiple workspaces . . . . . . . . . . 37 Define a link from a table or chart . . . . . . 76
Splitting a view . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Link expression editor . . . . . . . . . . 76
Selecting a query . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Testing the link . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Formatting the table in the Properties editor . . 38 Add or edit a link anchor. . . . . . . . . 79
Workspace Customization Options . . . . . . 39 Edit or delete a link definition . . . . . . . 80
What you can do . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Select the link . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Properties editor . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Design guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Chapter 7. Navigator views . . . . . . 81
Create and edit a workspace . . . . . . . . . 40 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Save a new workspace. . . . . . . . . . 40 Lesson: Building a Navigator view . . . . . . 81
Add a view . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Creating a new view . . . . . . . . . . 81
Edit workspace properties . . . . . . . . 42 Sharing items . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Restore the original workspace . . . . . . . 43 Creating new items . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Delete a workspace . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Deleting items . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Link from a Workspace . . . . . . . . . . 43 Renaming items . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Closing the Navigator editor . . . . . . . 83
Define the link . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Selecting a Navigator view . . . . . . . . 83
Select the link . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Lights, sound, alerts: associating situations . . . 84
Navigator editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Chapter 6. Table and chart views . . . 45 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
What can tables and charts show? . . . . . . . 45 Assigned Navigator views . . . . . . . . 85
Table view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Logical view . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Chart views . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Building a Navigator view . . . . . . . . 85
Customize a table view . . . . . . . . . . 46 Assigning managed systems . . . . . . . . 85
Create a new table . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Creating a new Navigator view. . . . . . . 86
Column manipulation . . . . . . . . . . 47 Editing an existing view . . . . . . . . . 87
Select a query . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Adding a child item . . . . . . . . . . 87
Filter the table . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Deleting a view or item . . . . . . . . . 88
Add column thresholds . . . . . . . . . 49 Expanding the Navigator in increments . . . . . 88
Style the table . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Setting the number of items to expand . . . . 88
Customize a chart view . . . . . . . . . . 51 Expanding child items . . . . . . . . . . 89
Create a new chart . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Logical and custom Navigator views . . . . . 89
Select a query . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Filter the chart . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Style the chart . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Chapter 8. Situation event views:
Historical reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 message log, situation event console,
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Setting a time span . . . . . . . . . . . 64
and graphic . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Disable historical reporting . . . . . . . . 65 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Configure historical data collection . . . . . 65 Message log view . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Start or stop historical data collection . . . . . 66 Situation event console view. . . . . . . . 92
Creating custom queries . . . . . . . . . . 67 Graphic view . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Message log view . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Create a monitoring server query . . . . . . 67 Adding a message log view . . . . . . . . 92
Advanced options . . . . . . . . . . . 69 What the view shows . . . . . . . . . . 93
Create a query for an ODBC database . . . . 70 Apply quick settings . . . . . . . . . . 94
Delete a query . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Message log properties . . . . . . . . . 94
Adding symbols to queries . . . . . . . . 72 Situation event console view. . . . . . . . . 95
Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server predefined Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Create a situation event console view . . . . . 95
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 What the view shows . . . . . . . . . . 96
Custom SQL . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Apply filters and thresholds . . . . . . . . 97
Managed System . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Situation event console properties . . . . . . 98
Situation Status Current . . . . . . . . . 74 Graphic View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Situation Status Log . . . . . . . . . . 74 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Exporting query results . . . . . . . . . . 75 Create a graphic view . . . . . . . . . . 99
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Graphic view toolbar . . . . . . . . . . 100
Save the data . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Snapshot tool . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Link from a table or chart . . . . . . . . . 75 Graphic Style properties . . . . . . . . . 101
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Create a custom background image . . . . . 102

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Create custom icons . . . . . . . . . . 103 Event management . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Change the default graphic or style sheet . . . 105 Turn the sound off . . . . . . . . . . 137
Linking from a graphic view . . . . . . . 105 Open the event workspace . . . . . . . . 137
Create or remove an acknowledgement . . . . 138
Chapter 9. Tivoli Enterprise Console Closing an event . . . . . . . . . . . 138
event viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Removing an event item. . . . . . . . . 139
Managed system lists . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Adding the Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer
Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
to the workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Predefined managed system lists . . . . . . 140
Configuring the Tivoli Enterprise Console event
Create a managed system list . . . . . . . 140
viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Copy, edit, or delete a managed system list . . 141
What to do if the view is disabled . . . . . 110
Improving Performance . . . . . . . . . . 141
What the view shows . . . . . . . . . . . 110
One data sampling for multiple situations . . . 141
Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Event view rows . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Events in Tivoli Enterprise Portal . . . . . . . 112 Chapter 11. Policies for automation 143
Tivoli Enterprise Console communications with Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Tivoli Enterprise Portal and the monitoring Reflex automation – situation with action . . . 143
server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Advanced automation – policy . . . . . . 143
Policy logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Chapter 10. Situations for event-based Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Creating a policy . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 A. Add a new policy . . . . . . . . . . 145
Event-based monitoring overview . . . . . . 115 B. Add and connect activities . . . . . . . 146
About situations . . . . . . . . . . . 115 C. Validate the workflow logic and save the
Predefined situations . . . . . . . . . . 115 policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Situation editor . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 D. Start the policy . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Situation syntax . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Embedded and correlated situations . . . . . 116 Maintaining policies . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Take action: Reflex automation . . . . . . 117 Editing a policy . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Lights in the Navigator . . . . . . . . . 117 Copying a policy . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Event workspace . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Deleting a policy . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Event acknowledgement . . . . . . . . . 118 Starting or stopping a policy . . . . . . . 151
Lesson: Creating a situation . . . . . . . . 118 Workflows window . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Creating a new situation . . . . . . . . . 119 Policy Details . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Customizing a situation . . . . . . . . . . 119 Workflow editor . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Opening the Situation editor . . . . . . . 120 General activities . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Filtering the situations tree . . . . . . . . 120 Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Creating a situation . . . . . . . . . . 121 Emitter activities . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Embedding a situation . . . . . . . . . 122 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Creating a correlated situation . . . . . . . 124 Return codes . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Create another situation . . . . . . . . . 125 Using event persistent situations in policies . . 160
Condition tab options . . . . . . . . . 126 SOAP commands . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Distribute the situation . . . . . . . . . 127 User choice activities . . . . . . . . . . 161
Write expert advice . . . . . . . . . . 128 Correlation mode . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Specify an action to take. . . . . . . . . 130 Cross-monitoring server support . . . . . . 163
Add an Until modifier . . . . . . . . . 131
Associating situations with Navigator items . . . 132
Distribute, assign, associate . . . . . . . . 132
Chapter 12. Designing customized
Associate a situation . . . . . . . . . . 132 responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Disassociate a situation . . . . . . . . . 133 Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Starting, stopping, or deleting a situation . . . . 134 Launch application . . . . . . . . . . 165
Start or stop a situation from the situation event Take action . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
flyover list . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Universal message console view . . . . . . 165
Start or stop a situation from the situation event Launch application . . . . . . . . . . . 165
console view . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Launching an application . . . . . . . . 166
Start or stop a situation from the Situation Creating a launch definition . . . . . . . 166
editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Copying or editing a launch definition . . . . 168
Start or stop a situation from the Manage Deleting a launch definition . . . . . . . 168
Situations at Managed System window . . . . 135 Launch application examples . . . . . . . 169
Deleting a situation . . . . . . . . . . 136 Take Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

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Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Group Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Sending a take action command . . . . . . 170 Minimum in group . . . . . . . . . . 212
Creating a take action command . . . . . . 171 Maximum in group . . . . . . . . . . 212
Editing a take action command . . . . . . 172 Count of group members . . . . . . . . 213
Take action view . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Average of group . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Rules for specifying arguments and commands 172 Sum of group . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
User ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Boolean AND and OR . . . . . . . . . . 214
Universal message console . . . . . . . . . 173 Multiple expressions . . . . . . . . . . 214
Adding a universal message console view . . . 173 Branching OR expressions . . . . . . . . 214
Repeating attributes in AND expressions . . . 215
Chapter 13. Terminal view . . . . . . 175
Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Appendix B. Command reference . . . 217
Customizing a terminal view . . . . . . . . 175 tacmd createSit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Adding a terminal view to the workspace . . . 175 tacmd deleteSit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
What the terminal view shows . . . . . . 176 tacmd editSit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Properties: Configuration . . . . . . . . 176 tacmd help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Properties: Style . . . . . . . . . . . 177 tacmd listSit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Running a script . . . . . . . . . . . 178 tacmd login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Recording a script . . . . . . . . . . . 178 tacmd logout . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Manage Scripts feature . . . . . . . . . 179 tacmd viewDepot . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Scripting syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 tacmd viewSit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Return codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Constants and variables . . . . . . . . . 181 Appendix C. Glossary . . . . . . . . 229
Operators and expressions . . . . . . . . 182
Flow control statements . . . . . . . . . 185
Appendix D. Accessibility . . . . . . 235
Scripting functions . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Navigating the interface using the keyboard . . . 235
Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Magnifying what is displayed on the screen . . . 235
User-defined functions . . . . . . . . . 188
Calling a function . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Built-in functions . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Appendix E. Support information . . . 237
Emulator functions . . . . . . . . . . 193 Searching knowledge bases . . . . . . . . . 237
Sample script—Omegaview Zoom . . . . . 200 Searching the information center . . . . . . 237
Searching the Internet . . . . . . . . . 237
Appendix A. Formula functions. . . . 205 Obtaining fixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Receiving weekly support updates . . . . . . 238
Formula editors . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Contacting IBM Software Support . . . . . . 238
Attribute characteristics . . . . . . . . . . 205
Determining the business impact . . . . . . 239
Numeric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Describing problems and gathering information 240
Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Submitting problems . . . . . . . . . . 240
Timestamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Enumerated . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Single-row or multiple-row . . . . . . . . 206 Appendix F. Notices . . . . . . . . 241
Cell Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Numeric attributes . . . . . . . . . . 207
Text attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Time attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

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Figures
1. IBM Tivoli Monitoring data flow . . . . . . 6 10. Setting threshold colors for a data view 50
2. Default Enterprise workspace . . . . . . . 7 11. Table view with threshold coloring . . . . . 50
3. Managed System Status table view . . . . . 11 12. Queries used in a workspace . . . . . . . 67
4. Enterprise Status Workspace . . . . . . . 24 13. Workspace with situation event console and
5. Sources of workspace links . . . . . . . 27 message log views . . . . . . . . . . 91
6. Situation event workspace . . . . . . . 32 14. Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer 107
7. Table view of a multiple-row attribute group 45 15. Tivoli Enterprise Console and Tivoli
8. Filters tab showing expressions with an AND Monitoring Services . . . . . . . . . 112
relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 16. Show ruler option for a terminal session 178
9. Filters tab showing expressions with an OR
relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

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Tables
1. New terminology for CandleNet Portal users 3 7. Relational Operators . . . . . . . . . 184
2. Graphic View Toolbar . . . . . . . . . 100 8. If Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
3. Event filter options in the Tivoli Enterprise 9. For Statement . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Console - Configuration window . . . . . 109 10. Return Statement . . . . . . . . . . 187
4. Criteria for Combining Situations in One Data 11. While Statement . . . . . . . . . . 187
Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 12. User-defined Functions . . . . . . . . 188
5. Binary Arithmetic Operators . . . . . . 183 13. Return Codes for tacmd CLI commands 228
6. Logical Operators . . . . . . . . . . 184

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About this guide

This guide describes the administration of your IBM Tivoli Monitoring, version 6
release 1 products using the Tivoli Enterprise Portal interface, with planning and
configuration guidelines for setting up your monitoring environment.

This guide describes:

v Tivoli Enterprise Portal and how it is integrated into the IBM Tivoli Monitoring
family of products.
v Administrative features of Tivoli Enterprise Portal.
v Viewing IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console events through the Tivoli Enterprise
Portal, and forwarding situation events to the IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console.
v Managing history data collection and the Tivoli Data Warehouse.
v How Tivoli Enterprise Portal is different from the early Windows-based Candle
system management client, Candle Management Workstation.
v Procedures for migrating the Tivoli Enterprise Portal database from one Tivoli
Enterprise Portal Server to another.

Who should read this guide

This guide is designed for those responsible for planning and customizing the
Tivoli Enterprise Portal environment. This includes
v System administrators
v System programmers
v Network administrators
v IBM Support and Field Systems Engineers

Publications
This section lists publications in the IBM Tivoli Monitoring library. It also describes
how to access Tivoli publications online and how to order Tivoli publications.

IBM Tivoli Monitoring library

The following documents provide information about the IBM Tivoli Monitoring
product:
v Introducing IBM Tivoli Monitoring, GI11-4071
Introduces the components of IBM Tivoli Monitoring and also compares
concepts and function of IBM Tivoli Monitoring to Tivoli® Distributed
Monitoring.
v IBM Tivoli Monitoring: Upgrading from Tivoli Distributed Monitoring, GC32-9462
Provides information on how to upgrade from Tivoli Distributed Monitoring.
v IBM Tivoli Monitoring Installation and Setup Guide, GC32-9407
Provides information about installing and setting up IBM Tivoli Monitoring and
upgrading from Candle OMEGAMON version 350 or 360.
v IBM Tivoli Monitoring User’s Guide, SC32-9409
Complements the Tivoli Enterprise Portal online help. The guide provides
hands-on lessons and detailed instructions for all Tivoli Enterprise Portal
features.

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v IBM Tivoli Monitoring Administrator’s Guide, SC32-9408

Describes the support tasks and functions required for the Tivoli Enterprise
Portal Server and clients, including Tivoli Enterprise Portal user administration.
v Configuring IBM Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server on z/OS, SC32-9463
Describes how to configure and customize the Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring
Server running on z/OS®.
v IBM Tivoli Monitoring Problem Determination Guide, GC32-9458
Provides information and messages to assist users with troubleshooting
problems with the software.
v Exploring IBM Tivoli Monitoring, SC32-1803
Provides a series of exercises that help users explore IBM® Tivoli Monitoring.
After completing the activities in this workbook, you will have installed and
configured your environment, explored both the graphical and command-line
interfaces of the product, used several of the new features in this release of IBM
Tivoli Monitoring (such as creating a monitor based on a custom script), and
worked with several monitoring agents.
v IBM Tivoli Universal Agent User’s Guide, SC32-9459
Introduces you to the IBM Tivoli Universal Agent, an agent of IBM Tivoli
Monitoring. The IBM Tivoli Universal Agent enables you to use the monitoring
and automation capabilities of IBM Tivoli Monitoring to monitor any type of
data you collect.
v IBM Tivoli Universal Agent API and Command Programming Reference Guide,
SC32-9461
Explains the procedures for implementing the IBM Tivoli Universal Agent APIs
and provides descriptions, syntax, and return status codes for the API calls and
command-line interface commands.

Accessing terminology online

The Tivoli Software Glossary includes definitions for many of the technical terms
related to Tivoli software. The Tivoli Software Glossary is available at the following
Tivoli software library Web site:

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/tividd/glossary/tivoliglossarymst.htm

The IBM Terminology Web site consolidates the terminology from IBM product
libraries in one convenient location. You can access the Terminology Web site at the
following Web address:

http://www.ibm.com/ibm/terminology

Accessing publications online

IBM posts publications for this and all other Tivoli products, as they become
available and whenever they are updated, to the Tivoli software information center
Web site. Some products also include publications on a documentation CD. The
format of the publications is PDF, HTML, or both. Access the Tivoli software
information center by first going to the Tivoli software library at the following Web
address:

http://www.ibm.com/software/tivoli/library/

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Click the Tivoli product manuals link. In the Tivoli Technical Product Documents
Alphabetical Listing window, click M to access all of the IBM Tivoli Monitoring
product manuals.

Note: If you print PDF documents on other than letter-sized paper, set the option
in the File → Print window that allows Adobe Reader to print letter-sized
pages on your local paper.

The IBM Software Support Web site provides the latest information about known
product limitations and workarounds in the form of technotes for your product.
You can view this information at the following Web site:

http://www.ibm.com/software/support

Ordering publications
You can order many Tivoli publications online at the following Web site:

http://www.elink.ibmlink.ibm.com/public/applications/
publications/cgibin/pbi.cgi

You can also order by telephone by calling one of these numbers:

v In the United States: 800-879-2755
v In Canada: 800-426-4968

In other countries, contact your software account representative to order Tivoli

publications.

Accessibility
Accessibility features help users with a physical disability, such as restricted
mobility or limited vision, to use software products successfully. With this product,
you can use assistive technologies to hear and navigate the interface. You can also
use the keyboard instead of the mouse to operate most features of the graphical
user interface.

For additional information, see the Accessibility Appendix in the user’s guide for
this product.

Tivoli technical training

For Tivoli technical training information, refer to the following IBM Tivoli
Education Web site:

http://www.ibm.com/software/tivoli/education/

Support information
Appendix E, “Support information,” on page 237 describes the following options
for obtaining support for IBM products:
v “Searching knowledge bases” on page 237
v “Obtaining fixes” on page 237
v “Contacting IBM Software Support” on page 238

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Conventions used in this guide

This guide uses several conventions for special terms and actions.

Typeface conventions
This guide uses the following typeface conventions:
Bold
v Lowercase commands and mixed case commands that are otherwise
difficult to distinguish from surrounding text
v Interface controls (check boxes, push buttons, radio buttons, spin
buttons, fields, folders, icons, list boxes, items inside list boxes,
multicolumn lists, containers, menu choices, menu names, tabs, property
sheets), labels (such as Tip:, and Operating system considerations:)
v Keywords and parameters in text
Italic
v Words defined in text
v Emphasis of words (for example, ″Use the word that to introduce a
restrictive clause.″)
v New terms in text (except in a definition list)
v Variables and values you must provide
Monospace
v Code and other examples
v File names, programming keywords, and other elements that are difficult
to distinguish from surrounding text
v Message text and prompts addressed to the user
v Text that the user must type
v Values for arguments or command options

Tivoli command syntax

The following special characters define Tivoli command syntax:
[] Identifies elements that are optional. Required elements do not have
brackets around them.
... Indicates that you can specify multiple values for the previous element.
Separate multiple values by a space, unless otherwise directed by
command information.
If the ellipsis for an element follows a closing bracket, use the syntax
within the brackets to specify multiple values. For example, to specify two
administrators for the option [–a admin]..., use –a admin1 –a admin2.
If the ellipsis for an element is within the brackets, use the syntax of the
last element to specify multiple values. For example, to specify two hosts
for the option [–h host...], use –h host1 host2.
| Indicates mutually exclusive information. You can use the element on
either the left or right of the vertical bar.
{} Delimits a set of mutually exclusive elements when a command requires
one of them. Brackets ([ ]) are around elements that are optional.

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In addition to the special characters, Tivoli command syntax uses the typeface
conventions described in “Typeface conventions” on page xiv. The following
example illustrates the typeface conventions used in Tivoli command syntax:

itmcmd agent [-l] [ -h install_dir ] [ -o instance ] [ -p option ] [-c] [-s] start|stop

{pc|all}

The start|stop and {pc|all} parameters are the only required parameters for the
itmcmd agent command. The brackets around the -l, -h, -o, -p, -c, and -s
parameters indicate that they are optional. The braces around {pc|all} indicate that
you must either specify a product code (pc) or choose to start or stop all
components.

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Chapter 1. Tivoli Distributed Monitoring users and Candle

OMEGAMON users
For Tivoli Distributed Monitoring users
If you are upgrading to IBM Tivoli Monitoring V6.1 from the Tivoli Distributed
Monitoring product, read the tutorial in the Tivoli Enterprise Portal online help.
These topics compare components, terminology and function of Tivoli Distributed
Monitoring to IBM Tivoli Monitoring. Starting with the Tivoli Distributed
Monitoring concepts that you are familiar with, you will learn the concepts and
approaches that IBM Tivoli Monitoring applies to achieve the same systems
management goals.

See also IBM Tivoli Monitoring: Upgrading from Tivoli Distributed Monitoring for
administrators upgrading to IBM Tivoli Monitoring.

For CandleNet Portal users

IBM Tivoli Monitoring V6.1 is the new branding and versioning of CandleNet
Portal. The user interface has a new name, a new look, strategic architectural
improvements, and many new features since CandleNet Portal version 195.

Tivoli Enterprise Console view

IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console provides a centralized view of your computing
enterprise and acts as a central collection point for alarms and events from
different sources. If your monitoring environment incorporates the Tivoli
Enterprise Console product, you can add the event viewer to a workspace just like
any other Tivoli Enterprise Portal view. See Chapter 9, “Tivoli Enterprise Console
event viewer,” on page 107.

Launch application
Launch Application enables you to start programs and open web pages using
definitions you have created. Applications can be launched from Navigator items,
the table view, chart views and the situation event console view. See “Launch
application” on page 165.

Embedding situations
You can now embed one or more situations within another situation in place of
one or more logical statements. This facility enables you to use situations as
building blocks for new situations. See “Embedding a situation” on page 122.

Correlating situations
You can now create a situation that contains other situations and targets a small
subset of the managed systems they normally monitor. When the situations on
these managed systems meet the comparison, the correlated situation becomes
true. See “Creating a correlated situation” on page 124.

Manage situation status

Manage Situations at Managed System displays the definitions and status of all the
situations distributed to the selected managed system. Options are available for

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starting, stopping, and editing situations. See “Start or stop a situation from the
Manage Situations at Managed System window” on page 135.

Universal message console

The universal message console view displays universal messages. Situation and
policy activities generate these messages, such as when a situation has been
created or deleted or a policy has been activated. You can also specify a universal
message when creating situations and policy actions. See “Universal message
console” on page 173.

Specify data ranges for gauge charts

You can now specify the range of data that the circular gauge or linear gauge chart
should span. This enables you to establish more realistic ranges and adjust them
for the conditions on your managed network. As well, you can set threshold colors
for subranges. See “Circular gauge chart” on page 59 and “Linear gauge chart” on
page 61.

Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server predefined queries

New queries of monitoring server ODBC data sources have been added for easier
access to log information for situations and policies. See “Tivoli Enterprise
Monitoring Server predefined queries” on page 73.

Export a data view

You can now save a table or chart view as a CSV or TXT file for importing into a
spreadsheet or other third party application. When exporting a view, you have the
choice of saving all data returned by the query or only specific columns or rows.
See “Exporting query results” on page 75.

Manage policy status

Manage Policies at Managed System displays the definitions and status of all the
policies distributed to the selected managed system. Options are available for
starting, stopping, and editing policies. See “Starting or stopping a policy: Manage
Policies at Managed System window” on page 151 and “Editing a policy: Manage
Policy at Managed System window” on page 149).

Workflow editor activities

The Wait until a situation is False activity has been added to the Workflow
editor. See “Extensions” on page 158.

Telnet support for terminal view

Terminal type VT100 has been added to the list of available terminal emulators.
This enables you to initiate a Telnet session within the terminal view. See
Chapter 13, “Terminal view,” on page 175.

Formula functions: change in value and percent change in

value
Two new formula functions have been added for use in situations. The Change
in value and Percent change in value measure the amount or percentage of
change between the current value of an attribute and the previous value. See
“Change in value” on page 208 and “Percent change in value” on page 208.

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Local Time and Universal Time selectable day and month

attributes
Rather than entering 01 for Sunday or for January, you can now select the day or
month from a list when referencing these attributes in a situation. See the he
Tivoli Enterprise Portal help topics, Local Time attributes and Universal Time
attributes.

Hexadecimal support in formula editors

You can now use hexadecimal notation in the Properties (Filters and Thresholds
tabs), Query, and Situation editors. This new capability allows filter ranges of, for
example, Tape or DASD devices using the See if value is within a range
(BETWEEN) formula function. See “Numeric” on page 206.

Expand Navigator branches in increments

This is a feature that is especially useful for large scale environments. The first
time you expand a Navigator branch that has more than a certain number of child
items, a message asks you the number of items to expand each time you click
More. (See “Expanding the Navigator in increments” on page 88.)

Remove an offline managed system

When an agent becomes unavailable its Navigator item is disabled. You can now
remove the dimmed icon through the pop-up menu in the managed system status
table view or the pop-up menu for the Navigator Physical view pop-up menu. See
“Expanding and collapsing the tree” on page 24 and the Tivoli Enterprise Portal
help topic, Managed system status: Clearing an offline entry.

New user ID authorities

Authorities have been added to the user ID profile for these new features: Agent
Management and Launch Application.

The Workspace Author Mode and Workspace Administration Mode permissions

have moved from the User Administration authorities to a new authority:
Workspace Administration. In their place are two new permissions: Author Mode
Eligible and Administration Mode Eligible. When either of these is enabled, the
user can toggle the mode on or off without being required to have an
administrator-level user ID. See 19 and 19.

Agent deployment from a single point of control

Rather than having to go from system to system to install and update monitoring
agents, administrators now have a convenient means to deploy and maintain
distributed monitoring agents from the Tivoli Enterprise Portal interface. See the
IBM Tivoli Monitoring Administrator’s Guide.

New terms
Table 1. New terminology for CandleNet Portal users
CandleNet Portal IBM Tivoli Monitoring
Candle Customer Support IBM Software Support
Candle Management Server Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server;
monitoring server

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Table 1. New terminology for CandleNet Portal users (continued)

CandleNet Portal IBM Tivoli Monitoring
CandleNet Portal Server Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server; portal server
event situation event
event console view situation event console view
Manage Candle Services Manage Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring
Services
OMEGAMON DE IBM Tivoli Monitoring
OMEGAMON Monitoring Agent Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Agent
OMEGAMON Platform Tivoli Monitoring Services
OMEGAMON Web Services Tivoli Monitoring Web Services
OMEGAMON XE IBM Tivoli Monitoring
Start > Programs > Candle > OMEGAMON Start > Programs > IBM Tivoli Monitoring
XE

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Chapter 2. Introduction
IBM Tivoli Monitoring is a family of products that helps you find, isolate, and fix
performance and availability problems more quickly at the system, subsystem,
database, or application level. IBM Tivoli Monitoring provides reports you can use
to track trends and troubleshoot problems.

You can use IBM Tivoli Monitoring to do the following:

v Monitor resources in your environment for certain conditions, such as missing
processes and high network traffic.
v Establish performance thresholds and raise alerts when thresholds are exceeded
or values are matched
v Trace the causes leading up to an alert
v Create and send commands to systems in your managed enterprise by means of
the Take Action feature
v Start your favorite diagnostic tool using the Launch Application feature
v Create comprehensive reports about system conditions
v Monitor conditions of particular interest by defining custom queries, using the
attributes from an installed monitoring agent or from an ODBC-compliant data
source.
v Collect and report historical data, and use a database to store value summaries
long-term.

This chapter describes the components of IBM Tivoli Monitoring V6.1 and
introduces the major features of the Tivoli Enterprise Portal user interface.

IBM Tivoli Monitoring components

The Tivoli Monitoring Services provide the infrastructure for your Tivoli Enterprise
Monitoring Agents.

Client
The IBM Tivoli Monitoring client, Tivoli Enterprise Portal ( in Figure 1), is a Java
based user interface for viewing and monitoring your enterprise network.
Depending on how it was installed, you can start Tivoli Enterprise Portal as a
desktop application (desktop mode) or through your browser (browser mode).

Server
The Tivoli Enterprise Portal client connects to the Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server (
in Figure 1). The Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server is a collection of software
services for the client that enables retrieval, manipulation and analysis of data from
the monitoring agents on your enterprise.

The Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server connects to the main, or hub, Tivoli Enterprise
Monitoring Server ( in Figure 1), The monitoring server acts as a collection and
control point for alerts received from the monitoring agents, and collects
performance and availability data from them. The hub monitoring server correlates
the monitoring data collected by monitoring agents and remote monitoring servers
and passes it to the portal server for presentation in the portal user interface and
your evaluation.

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Agent
Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Agents ( ) are installed on the systems or
subsystems whose applications and resources you want to monitor. The agent
collects monitoring data from the managed system and passes it to the monitoring
server to which it is connected. The client gathers the current values of the
attributes and produces reports formatted into tables and charts. It can also test the
values against a threshold and display an alert icon when that threshold is
exceeded or a value is matched. These tests are called situations.

Figure 1. IBM Tivoli Monitoring data flow

Tivoli Enterprise Portal features

Tivoli Enterprise Portal gives you a single point of control for managing the
resources your applications rely on, including a range of operating systems,
servers, databases, platforms, and Web components. For example, a typical IT
network might have a Web server on Windows, an application server and database
on UNIX, and a transaction processor on CICS on the mainframe. Tivoli Enterprise
Portal brings all these views together in a single window so you can see when any
component is not working as expected.

Application window
Tivoli Enterprise Portal is the interface for your IBM Tivoli Monitoring products.
Much like you use your browser home page as a starting point for navigating the
Internet, you can use Tivoli Enterprise Portal to get a high level overview of your
network environment.

The application window shows a tree-like view of your monitored network on the
left, with alert icons that appear when problems arise. The rest of the window is
filled with views pertinent to the chosen item in the tree.

To illustrate IBM Tivoli Monitoring with the Tivoli Enterprise Portal interface,
consider a web-based business and how it is monitored.

AlphaPet is a fictitious online retail pet supply store. Its IT configuration comprises
several Windows systems and includes
v Microsoft IIS web server
v IBM DB2 Universal Database server and relational databases

The company installed Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Agents to monitor their two
databases, the Web server and Windows. When AlphaPet logged on to Tivoli
Enterprise Portal for the first time, they saw this:

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Figure 2. Default Enterprise workspace

This is the default workspace for the Enterprise Navigator item.

From the moment they logged on, the AlphaPet users got feedback about their
Windows systems. They went on to create workspaces that consolidate information
from different monitoring agents, gathering reports on their Web server and
databases.

Features and functions

Your IBM Tivoli Monitoring products use the Tivoli Enterprise Portal interface with
these major features:
Customizable workspaces When you open a workspace, the monitoring
agents are sampled for data is retrieved and the
results to the workspace in the form of charts and
tables. You can start monitoring activity and
system status immediately with the predefined
workspaces. With just a few clicks of the mouse,
you can tailor your own workspaces to look at
specific conditions, display critical threshold values
in red, and filter incoming data so you see only
what matters.
Workspace views Many view types are available for you to add to
workspaces:
v Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer displays
events from the Tivoli Enterprise Console event
server and can integrate them with situation
events from the monitoring server.
v Table view displays data that the monitoring
agents have sent to the monitoring server

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gathered from the managed systems where they

are running. You can also write SQL queries to
display data from ODBC-compliant data sources.
v Chart views (pie, bar, plot, and gauge), like the
table view, display data from monitoring agents.
v Notepad view opens a simple text editor for
writing text that can be saved with the
workspace.
v Message log shows the status of all situations
distributed to the managed systems in your
enterprise. (Your user ID requires View
permission for the Event feature.)
v Situation event console view shows the status of
all situations associated with items on this
branch of the Navigator view, and has tools for
instant filtering and event handling. (Your user
ID requires View permission for the Event
feature.)
v Universal message console view shows situation
and policy activity, and messages received as the
result of universal message generation.
v Graphic view places Navigator items as icons on
a map or picture of your choosing. (Your user ID
requires View permission for the Event feature.)
v Take action view enables you to send a command
to a system. (Your user ID requires View
permission for the Action feature.)
v Terminal view starts a 3270, 5250, or Telnet
session, and enables you to write scripts for
working with z/OS applications.
v Browser view opens the integrated browser for
accessing Web pages.
Linked workspaces If you often go from one workspace to another,
and from one Navigator view to another, you can
build a link from one to the other to get there more
quickly. You can also build links that originate
from a table or from a bar or pie chart, and use
relevant data from the source link to determine the
link target.
Historical data Configure IBM Tivoli Monitoring to retain data
samplings in history files and, if you have the
Tivoli Data Warehouse configured, roll off to a
historical database every hour or every day. In
chart and table views you can then look over what
happened hours or days ago, or as far back as you
have data stored. You can filter out unwanted data
to speed up data retrieval and to show specific
areas of interest. Pruning and summarization
features enable you to keep the data stored on the
warehouse at a manageable level.
Custom queries Every monitoring agent comes with a set of
predefined queries for every attribute group. These

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queries tell the monitoring server what monitoring

data to retrieve from the agent to display in a chart
or table view. You can create your own queries to
specify exactly which attributes to retrieve for the
table or chart, thus saving valuable resources by
retrieving only the data you want and nothing
more. For example, you can build a filter into the
query to retrieve only records whose file size is
greater than 5 megabytes.
Additionally, you can write SQL queries to ODBC
data sources and apply the results to any chart or
table. This enables you to show IBM Tivoli
Monitoring data and data from other sources (such
as third-party databases) in a single workspace.
Take action commands The take action feature lets you enter a command
or select from one of the predefined commands for
your product and run it on any system in your
managed network either manually or automatically
in response to reported conditions.
Launch application The launch application feature enables you to write
definitions that start applications on your
computer. A launch definition can include
arguments that are passed to the application when
it is started. You can invoke a definition at any
time from the portal interface to launch the
specified application.
Condition based alerts You can define conditions that Tivoli Enterprise
Portal tests against monitored data. When it finds
matching values (or values that fall within a
specified range), a situation event is open and a
visual indicator alerts you. You can have a
command run on or a message sent to a managed
system in response to the alert.
Managed system lists You can create and maintain named lists of
managed systems that can be applied to:
v situation distribution lists
v queries
v custom Navigator managed system assignments
v policies correlated by business application group
User administration Tivoli Enterprise Portal provides the user
administration feature for adding or modifying
user IDs, assigning permissions for the major
features, and restricting access to specific managed
systems and Navigator views.
Universal Agent support The Tivoli Universal Agent is an agent you can
configure to monitor any data you collect. It lets
you integrate data from virtually any platform and
any source, such as custom applications, databases,
systems, and subsystems. Your defined data
providers are listed in the Navigator, and default
workspaces are automatically created for them. As

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with any other Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Agent,

you can display data from your Universal Agent’s
attributes in workspace views, and use them in
situations for monitoring.
Multiple applications in one workspace
In one workspace you can build a table or chart
with data from one type of monitoring agent, and
another table or chart with data from a different
agent, showing views from as many different agent
types as are included on that branch of the
Navigator.
Linking between applications and Navigators
You can define a link from a workspace for one
type of monitoring agent to the workspace of
another type. And you can link between
Navigators.
Custom Navigator views Tivoli Enterprise Portal comes with the Navigator
Physical view, which organizes your managed
enterprise by operating platform and agent type,
and the Navigator Logical view, which initially
shows one Navigator item or, if you are migrating
from the Candle Management Workstation user
interface, a hierarchy of your managed objects. You
can also define Navigator views for any logical
hierarchy, such as a departmental or site hierarchy.
Policies The Workflows editor enables you to design sets of
automated system processes, called policies, to
resolve system problems. A policy performs
actions, schedules work to be performed by users,
or automates manual tasks.

About monitoring agents

Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Agents are installed on the computers you want to
monitor, referred to as a managed system. Once the agent has been started, it takes
data samples of what it is monitoring at the request of the Tivoli Enterprise
Monitoring Server.

What prompts the monitoring server to gather data samples?

v Opening or refreshing a workspace that has data views (table or chart views).
When this happens, the Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server sends a sampling request
to the hub monitoring server. The request is passed to the monitoring agent, if
there is a direct connection, or to the remote monitoring server to which the
monitoring agent connects. The monitoring agent takes a data sampling and
returns the results through the monitoring server and portal server to the portal
workspace.
v The sampling interval for a situation (a test taken at your monitored systems).
The situation can have an interval as often as once per second or as seldom as
once every three months. When the interval expires, the monitoring server
requests data samples from the agent and compares the returned values with the
condition described in the situation. If the values meet the condition, the lights
go on in the navigation tree (Navigator).

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Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Agents are available for monitoring different types of
platforms and applications, including mainframe, middleware, distributed, and
database.

Navigator Physical view

The Navigator Physical view is a tree-like hierarchy showing the types of
monitoring agents running on your managed systems.

The Navigator indicates when an agent is offline by dimming the agent and
attribute items of that managed system. When an agent is offline, the monitoring
server cannot collect data from it nor can you display any of its workspaces. The
agent needs to be restarted on the managed system before data samplings can be
taken.

Managed system status

The Managed System Status workspace (click Enterprise, then point to
Workspace in the View menu and select Managed System Status) lists all
monitoring agents in your managed enterprise. The table view gives the status of
the agent (offline or online) followed by the host name and other information.

Figure 3. Managed System Status table view

IBM Tivoli Monitoring alert manager

Alert managers are similar to the monitoring agents in that they have attributes
you can display in views and write situations against, and they show in the
Navigator. They are different in that they enable you to monitor alerts from a
third-party product or the reverse—send data about situation events to a
third-party management application.

Attributes
Attributes are the application properties being measured and reported, such as the
amount of memory usage or the message ID. Some monitoring agents have fewer
than 100 attributes, while others have over 1000.

Attribute groups
Attributes are organized into groups according to their purpose. The attributes in a
group can be displayed in a table view or chart view. And they can be used to
specify a condition for testing in a situation.

The data samplings from an attribute group return either a single row of data or
multiple rows. For example, the Windows Memory attributes retrieve a single data
row about real and virtual memory on the managed system; and the Windows
Processes attributes retrieve multiple rows, one for each process running on the
managed system.

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Whether an attribute group is single-row or multiple-row becomes important when

you construct charts, add filters and thresholds to table views, and write situations.
For example, some charts can show only one row of data.

Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server and common attributes

Tivoli Monitoring Services has several attribute groups for all managed systems
and for the monitoring server:
v Active Situation Status and Situation Status for use in data views
v Managed Systems for use in data views and in situations for the monitoring
server
v Local Time and Universal Time for use in situations on any managed system

Attribute characteristics
The situation, filter and threshold functions available for a particular attribute
depend on its characteristics. The three main types of attributes are:
v Numeric
Numeric attributes represent a count, percentage, seconds or some other
measurement.
v Text
Names, such as the host name or a process name, are text attributes. Usually
timestamp and enumerated (see below) attributes are treated as text attributes.
v Timestamp
Most attribute groups have a timestamp attribute. Some have different names,
such as Start Date & Time. You can tell which attributes are timestamp attributes
by their format in a table view, which is mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss.

Another type of attribute is treated as a numeric or text attribute:

v Enumerated
Enumerated attributes are those with a predefined set of values. For example,
the IBM WebSphere MQ Monitoring attribute Action to Take has values of n/a,
delete, create, and discover.

Navigator level and availability

With the exception of some of the common attributes, the current level of the
Navigator Physical view determines which attributes can be used in a chart or
table view for the workspace. Generally, the deeper down the tree you go, the
narrower the selection. Attributes available at each level are those:

Enterprise for all online monitoring agents

Operating Platform for all monitoring agents running on that platform

System for all monitoring agents running on that system

Agent associated with that monitoring agent

Attribute associated with the attribute group (or groups)

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Conclusion
This chapter introduced IBM Tivoli Monitoring, its Tivoli Enterprise Portal user
interface, and how the data from your managed systems can be displayed and
manipulated with the portal.

It also introduced the major features, which are described in the remainder of this
guide with usage instructions given in tutorial format.

Continue to the next chapter for a lesson on using the Navigator and opening
workspaces.

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Chapter 3. Getting started

This chapter gets you logged on to Tivoli Enterprise Portal and describes what you
first see. This is followed by a discussion of your user ID, why you may or may
not see or be able to use certain features, and what is required for completing the
lessons given in this manual.

Starting theTivoli Enterprise Portal client

Tivoli Enterprise Portal can be run either as a desktop or Web-based application. If
you are not sure which method is intended for your monitored enterprise, ask
your system administrator.

Starting the client as a desktop application

On Windows, use the following steps to start the portal client in desktop mode:
1. Click Start → Programs → IBM Tivoli Monitoring → Tivoli Enterprise™ Portal.
2. Type the user name in the login field. (The default user name is sysadmin with
no password.)
3. If your environment requires user validation, type the password.
4. Click OK.

On Linux, use the following steps to start the portal client in desktop mode:
1. Change to the <itm_installdir>/bin subdirectory.
2. Run the following command:
./itmcmd agent start cj

Starting the client from Internet Explorer

Use the following steps to start Tivoli Enterprise Portal in browser mode.
1. Start the Microsoft® Internet Explorer browser.
2. Type the URL for the Tivoli Enterprise Portal in the Address field of the
browser. The URL is http://systemname:1920///cnp/client, where the
systemname is the host name of the machine where the Tivoli Enterprise Portal
Server and browser component are installed.
3. Click Yes on the Warning - Security window.
4. Type the user name in the login field. (The default user name is sysadmin with
no password.)
5. If your environment requires user validation, type the password.
6. Click OK.
7. Click Accept on the certificate window.

Tivoli Enterprise Portal window

The Tivoli Enterprise Portal window displays information about your enterprise. In
a single window on your desktop you can get both high level overviews and
in-depth reporting on the health of your systems and applications.

Framing the working area (the Navigator and workspace) of the window are these
components:

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v title bar with the name of the workspace. In desktop mode it also shows the
Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server name and the user name.
v banner (browser mode only), which may be customized for your organization
logo and Web URL.
v menu bar with File, Edit, View and Help menus. Also available are pop-up
menus when you right-click a Navigator item or a view in the workspace.
v toolbar with tools for moving among and updating workspaces, accessing the
editors, and adding new views. Also, each view has a toolbar.
v status bar showing the data retrieval status of the active workspace, connection
status to the portal server, its name and port number, and the user name.

If your user ID does not have View or Modify permission for a feature or does
not have Workspace Author Mode permission you will not see certain items in the
menus, pop-up menus or toolbar.

Your User ID and Access to Features

Who are the users?

Your IBM Tivoli Monitoring products help you improve quality of service and
return on investment, whether from a systems aspect (UNIX, Windows,
Mainframe) or functional (Network, Help Desk, Database).

Users in such environments are diverse:

v operators respond to alerts, directing them to the appropriate person for handling
v general users respond to alerts, investigate them by reviewing pertinent reports
and logs
v advanced users customize their own workspaces and Navigator views, define and
distribute situations to run on managed systems, and develop policies for
automation
v administrators plan, design, customize and manage the IBM Tivoli Monitoring
environment

In some managed enterprises one person may assume all of these roles. In larger
enterprises roles are often divided.

Tivoli Enterprise Portal provides varying degrees of access to the features and
views of your monitored environment, so any combination of the aforementioned
job functions can be accommodated.

Access to features, applications, and Navigator views

Your user ID comes with a set of permissions that determine which Tivoli
Enterprise Portal features you are authorized to see and use, as well as which
monitored applications and which Navigator views (and the highest level within a
view) you can access.

This guide alerts you to limitations due to restricted permissions wherever you see
the User ID icon.

Authorities
The following features are enabled or disabled individually for each user ID:
Action View lets you see and execute a Take Action

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command from a list of titles. When enabled, Take

Action appears in the Navigator pop-up menu.
Modify lets you create and save your own Take
Action commands. When enabled, Edit Action
appears in the Navigator pop-up menu.
Agent Management Manage allows the user to perform agent
deployment throughout the managed network.
This includes installing a monitored product,
keeping the software revisions up-to-date, and
removing an agent from the managed network.
Start/Stop allows the user to start a monitoring
agent or to stop it running.
Custom Navigator Views Modify lets you to create new Navigator views
and manage them. When enabled, Edit Navigator
View appears in the Navigator toolbar.
Event Close lets you close a pure event or an event
that was open before a situation was stopped
manually. When enabled, Close Situation Event
appears in the pop-up menu of the situation event
flyover list, event Navigator item, and situation
event console view when the selected event is a
pure event or the situation has been stopped.
View enables you to see situation event
indicators in the Navigator when situations become
true.
Acknowledge allows you to acknowledge a
situation event. When this permission is enabled,
Acknowledge appears in the pop-up menu of
the situation event flyover list, event Navigator
item, and situation event console view.
Feature - DE Enable is dimmed because you cannot change
it. The access to this feature is determined by your
IBM Tivoli Monitoring license.
History Configure lets you configure history files and
data rolloff, and start and stop data collection for
attribute groups. When enabled, History
Configuration appears in the main toolbar.
Launch Application Launch allows the user to invoke any of the
launch definitions available for the Navigator item,
table view, chart view, or situation event console
view.
View allows the user to see the composition of
the selected launch definition.
Modify allows the user to create, edit and
delete launch definitions.
Managed System List View lets you to open the Managed System List
editor to see the content of each managed system
list. When this permission is enabled, Managed

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System Lists is available in the Edit menu. You

need Modify permission for the Managed System
Lists tools to be available.
Modify lets you open the Managed System List
editor to create, edit and delete managed system
lists.
Policy View allows you to open the Workflow editor
to see policies. When View is enabled,
Workflow Editor is available in the main
toolbar and Manage Policies is available in the
Navigator pop-up menu at the agent level.
Start/Stop lets you start and stop policies. With
this permission enabled, Start Policy and
Stop Policy are available when you select a
policy.
Modify lets you open the Workflow editor to
create and edit policies. When Modify is enabled,
New Policy is available when you select a
policy, along with Edit Workflow, Copy
Policy, and Delete Policy.
Query View lets you select a query to apply to a table
or chart view. When View is enabled, you can
Click here to assign a query in the Query tab of the
Properties editor.
Modify lets you create, edit and delete queries
in the Query editor. When Modify is enabled,
Query is available in the main toolbar, as are the
editing tools in the Query editor.
Situation View lets you see situation definitions and see
acknowledgements. When View is enabled,
Situations is available in the main toolbar and
Acknowledge in the pop-up menu of the situation
event flyover list, event Navigator item, and
situation event console view.
Modify lets you create new situations and
manage them. When Modify is enabled, the editing
tools are available in the Situation editor.
Start or Stop lets you start or stop a situation.
When this permission is enabled, Start
Situation and Stop Situation are available in
the situation event flyover list, situation event
console view, Situation editor, and the Manage
Situations at Managed System window.
Terminal Script View allows the user to run or stop running a
terminal emulator script and to see them, but not
to edit them. If View is disabled the user will be
able only to run or stop a script.

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Modify allows the user to create or record new

terminal emulator scripts, edit, and delete them.
User Administration Modify lets you edit user IDs and remove
them. When this permission is enabled,
Administer Users is available in the main
toolbar and the tools are available in the
Administer Users window.
View enables you to open the Administer Users
editor and see your user ID permissions.
Author Mode Eligible allows the user to enable
or disable their Author Mode permission under
Authorities - Workspace Administration, but not
for any other user IDs.
Administration Mode Eligible allows the user
to enable or disable their Administration Mode
permission under Authorities - Workspace
Administration, but not for any other user IDs.
Workspace Administration Workspace Author Mode allows the user to
create and edit workspaces, links, and terminal
emulator scripts. If you disable Workspace Author
Mode, the user cannot make any of these changes
but can continue monitoring and responding to
alerts; the tools can still be seen, but they are
disabled.
Workspace Administration Mode is available
only for the SYSADMIN user ID and new IDs
made from it from the Create Another User
window. When administration mode is enabled,
changes you make to workspaces affect all users
connected to the same portal server. When it is
disabled, workspace changes you make are not
shared with other users.

Note: Select Do not allow modifications in the

Workspace Properties whenever you create
or edit a workspace in administration mode.
Otherwise, if a user edits that workspace,
you no longer own the workspace and
cannot override their changes.
WebSphere MQ Configuration Authorities
IBM Tivoli Monitoring for WebSphere MQ
Configuration installations will see this folder.
View allows the user to see, but not change,
your organization’s WebSphere MQ configuration
in the Navigator Configuration view.
Modify allows the user to change your
organization’s WebSphere MQ configuration or to
schedule updates in the Configuration view.

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Applications
Your user ID is set so you can see some or all the application types being
monitored. For example, one user may be able to see only mainframe applications,
while another can see only middleware, and another sees all applications.

Navigator views
When a Navigator view is created, only the author is able to see the view, but it is
available for the administrator to assign to users. An assigned Navigator view
means the user can open it. For each assigned view, the user may be restricted to
see only a certain branch rather than the entire hierarchy.

Completing the lessons

The lessons in this guide are intended to teach you the mechanics of the major
Tivoli Enterprise Portal features. Whether you are an operator or administrator, the
lessons will provide a foundation for your work with the Tivoli Enterprise Portal
interface for your IBM Tivoli Monitoring products.

Because we do not know which of the many IBM Tivoli Monitoring products your
organization has, the lessons use the IBM Tivoli Monitoring common attributes
which are available to everyone.

Also, your tutorial environment may or may not be the same as your monitored
environment, so check with your system administrator before starting the lessons.

Notes to the system administrator

The lessons require a live setting so the user can respond to alerts, and create
workspaces and situations. You can enable the user to work on your production
system, your test system, or a separate monitored network set up just for training.

The lessons, the user ID permissions required, and their effect on the monitoring
environment are listed below:

Note: All lessons require the user ID to have the Navigator Physical view as an
Assigned View, and the Enterprise level as the Assigned Root for that view.
These requirements will not appear in the list below.

Monitoring: real-time and event-based

Lesson: Navigating through workspaces
This lesson does not affect the monitoring
environment.
Lesson: Using workspaces This lesson does not affect the monitoring
environment.
Lesson: Using views This lesson does not affect the monitoring
environment.
Lesson: Customizing a workspace
The user ID requires Workspace Author Mode
permission.
This lesson does not affect the monitoring
environment. Users add a new workspace that will
be available only to their user ID.

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Monitoring with situations

Lesson: Creating a situation
The user ID requires Situation Start/Stop, Modify, and View
permissions, and Workspace Author Mode permission.
This lesson adds a situation to the monitoring environment. Its
effect is the appearance of a situation event indicator in the
Navigator for the situation named My_Study.
Lesson: Responding to alerts
The user ID requires View and Acknowledge permissions for
Events.
This lesson requires the user to create an acknowledgement in the
situation event flyover list, situation event Navigator item, or
situation event console view. Acknowledgements are indicated by a
Acknowledge icon in the situation event flyover list, the
situation event Navigator item, the situation event console view,
and the message log view.

Custom Navigator views

Lesson: Building a Navigator view
The user ID needs the following permissions for both lessons in
this chapter: Custom Navigator Views - Modify; Situation -
Modify; User Administration - Workspace Author Mode.

Conclusion
You should now be successfully logged on to Tivoli Enterprise Portal and
understand what the window shows. You also know what permissions and
assignments your user ID has and what is required to access and use the features.

The next chapter teaches you the basics of navigating through workspaces and
how to respond to monitoring alerts.

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Chapter 4. Monitoring: real-time and event-based

This chapter gives you hands-on practice with the Navigator: how to use it to open
workspaces, what the “lights” mean, and how to respond to the alerts they
represent.

Every new user should complete the lessons in this chapter. You can also use the
material in this chapter for reference.

Overview
The Tivoli Enterprise Portal window is divided into a Navigator view and a
workspace.

Navigator
Physical view
Tivoli Enterprise Portal has a Navigator Physical view showing the hierarchy of
your network from a system point of view, organized by operating platform,
system name, monitoring agent, and attribute groups.

Logical view
Tivoli Enterprise Portal users also have a Navigator Logical view that can be
customized for any logical hierarchy. And you can create other business views. For
example, you could have a Navigator view for Manufacturing and another for
Marketing.

Alerts
When you see “lights” in the Navigator, you are seeing event indicators, which
appear when a situation (a test of certain conditions) becomes true.

Workspace
The workspace changes for each item in the Navigator. Workspaces at the top
present high level overviews, and can get more specific or detailed as you move
down a branch.

Each workspace is made up of one or more panes, or views. Many different views
are available, such as charts and tables that show data from monitoring agents,
and the browser view for accessing web pages.

What’s Next?
The next section of this chapter, Lesson: Navigating through workspaces, takes you
through the Navigator and opening workspaces. The two monitoring methods
covered in the rest of the chapter are real-time using workspaces, and event-based
using situations.

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Figure 4. Enterprise Status Workspace

While in the Enterprise Status workspace, right-click the Enterprise Navigator item
(or open the View menu), point to Workspace and select the name.

Lesson: Navigating through workspaces

This lesson introduces the Navigator and how to use it to move among
workspaces.

When you click an item in the Navigator its default workspace opens. A Navigator
item may have multiple workspaces and it may have links to other workspaces.

For this lesson, your user ID requires the Navigator Physical view as an
Assigned View, and the Enterprise level as the Assigned Root for that view.

Expanding and collapsing the tree

The initial display of the Navigator Physical view looks like this:

Enterprise

Operating Platform

where Operating Platform is one or more of the following:

v Linux Systems
v OS/400 Systems
v UNIX Systems
v Windows Systems
v z/OS Systems

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The Navigator has and icons for expanding and collapsing each branch, an
icon for every level of the hierarchy, and alert icons to identify problem areas.
1. Click Expand on the first item below Enterprise to open the operating
platform level.
Opening this level of the Navigator shows all the systems in your monitored
network running on this operating platform.
2. Continue to click Expand at each level of the Navigator until you reach the
lowest level.
Every item in the Navigator has an icon to identify its level in the tree.
If, while expanding a branch that has more than 25 child items, you are
prompted to enter the number to expand at one time, enter 3 to expand in
groups of three. Click More to open the next group of child items. (See
“Expanding the Navigator in increments” on page 88.)
The Navigator Physical view here shows the five levels of the tree.
Enterprise
Operating Platform
System
Agent
Attribute
Some monitoring agents have subagents and others can have multiple agents of
the same type on one system. In such cases, you will see an extra level:
Enterprise
Operating Platform
System
Agent
Subagent
Attribute
The example shows the monitoring agent for the MS SQL Server installed on
the system named MYSYSTEM, which runs on Windows:
Enterprise
Windows Systems
MYSYSTEM
MS SQL Server
Errorlog Alerts
Databases
Server Locking
Processes
Servers
If you see the icon and name dimmed at the agent and attribute levels, it
means the agent is unavailable. The example shows that the MS SQL Server

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managed system is offline. To remove an offline managed system from the

Navigator, right-click the agent name and select Remove Managed System.
MS SQL Server
Errorlog Alerts
3. Now go back up the tree and click to collapse each level.
Alert icons in the Navigator are indicators of real or potential problems on the
network. You will learn more about them in the exercise, “Lesson: Responding
to alerts” on page 30.

Opening workspaces
The first workspace to show when you open the Navigator Physical view is the
Enterprise Status workspace, as shown in Figure 4 on page 24.
1. If the Enterprise Status workspace is not open, click Enterprise.
You can click either the icon or name of a Navigator item to open its
workspace.
2. Click the icon or name for the next Navigator item (such as Windows
Systems).
Earlier you used and to open and close Navigator levels without
changing the workspace. When you click the Navigator item icon or its name,
its default workspace replaces the one previously showing.
3. Click to move down the Navigator hierarchy and open each level until you
reach the agent (or subagent) level, then click the agent name.
Below the Enterprise default workspace you may see that the platform-
and system-level workspaces have not been defined. After that are the
predefined workspaces for your IBM Tivoli Monitoring product, one set for
each managed system:
v The agent (or agent followed by subagent) workspace provides an
overview of your managed application. It may include a chart or table view
showing data from one attribute group, and another view with data from a
different attribute group.
v The attribute workspace is named for the group of attributes the agent is
monitoring. You may see some attribute groups consolidated under one title,
such as Memory or Databases, with multiple workspaces available.

4. Close up the tree entirely by double-clicking Enterprise; to expand the tree,

double-click again.

Multiple workspaces
Your IBM Tivoli Monitoring product may have other workspaces for a Navigator
item besides the default. To find out, right-click the current (highlighted) Navigator
item and point to Workspace in the pop-up menu.

Linking to a workspace
Your Tivoli Enterprise Portal workspaces can be linked to one another. Figure 5 on
page 27 shows where a link may start and the methods for opening the link. A link
from a Navigator item or graphic view is often a simple link to the target
workspace, whereas a link from a table row or chart point may be to a workspace
with more details about that data series.

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1. Open a workspace at the attribute level of the Navigator.

2. Right-click the highlighted Navigator item.
3. Point to Link to in the pop-up menu and, if a target workspace shows in the
list, select it.
This option does not appear in the pop-up menu if the workspace has no links.
4. If you find a workspace with link anchors in their table or graphic views,
click the icon to link to the target workspace.
If more than one candidate meets the target criteria, the Select Target window
will open: Select the Navigator item and click OK. If a message asks you to
“Please select a leaf node”, click OK, then select an item deeper in the tree
hierarchy.

Figure 5. Sources of workspace links

Going back and forward

Tivoli Enterprise Portal remembers the workspaces you opened during your work
session, up to 20 workspaces, so you can retrace your steps.

Go back to the Enterprise Monitoring Status workspace:

1. Click Back. In browser mode, use the tool on the browser toolbar.
2. Click Forward.
3. Click History to see and select from a history of workspaces in the order that
they were opened.

Lesson: Using workspaces

Now that you know how to move through the Navigator and among workspaces,
you are ready to learn more about what they show, how to refresh or stop loading
a workspace, and how to create multiple windows so you can always see
important workspaces.

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For this lesson, your user ID requires the Navigator Physical view as an
Assigned View, and the Enterprise level as the Assigned Root for that view.

What the enterprise workspace shows

As you open new workspaces, you will see a variety of views. Of those views, the
table and chart views are the ones that show values of the properties, or attributes,
that comprise your monitoring agent.

If the Enterprise Status workspace is not open, click

Enterprise. This workspace shows the highest overview of your enterprise in three
views:
v Situation Event Console displays a row for every situation with a status change
(situation event occurrence). The console has a toolbar for filtering the view to
show only the alerts you want to see and a pop-up menu with items for
managing alerts.
v Open Situation Accounts – Last 24 Hoursdisplays a bar for every situation that has
become true in the past 24 hours. The length of the bar indicates the number of
times an event has been opened for the situation during this time.
v Message Log displays a row for every situation with a status change (event
occurrence).

This workspace is not specific to your IBM Tivoli Monitoring product; it

encompasses all of them. This workspace shows information from all active
monitoring agents and is not restricted to a single type of agent like other
workspaces are.

Refreshing a workspace
When you open a workspace that includes charts or tables, the portal server
requests new data samples from the monitoring agent and displays them in these
data views. A workspace can be set to refresh automatically from every 30 seconds
to once an hour, or it can be refreshed on-demand.

Automatic refresh
1. Open a workspace at the agent or attribute level of the Navigator
Physical view.
2. Open the View menu and point to Refresh Every to see the refresh setting for
this workspace.

Manual refresh
1. Click Refresh.

Use this method when you want to see the latest data samplings for a table or
chart view. Regardless of the refresh setting, you can manually refresh the
workspace at any time.

Pause automatic refresh and resume

If a workspace is set for automatic refresh at intervals, you can suspend refresh
while you examine the data.
1. Click Pause Refresh to stop automatic refresh for the time being.
You can manually refresh the workspace if you like.

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2. Click Resume Refresh to refresh the workspace and resume automatic

refresh.

Stop loading a workspace

You can stop loading a workspace in the same way as you would stop loading a
Web page. Perhaps you changed your mind and do not want to wait until this
workspace loads before going somewhere else.
1. Open a workspace at the agent level of the Navigator.
2. While the workspace is loading, click Stop.
In browser mode, use the tool on the browser toolbar; in desktop mode, use the
tool in the Tivoli Enterprise Portal toolbar.

Creating multiple windows

The Tivoli Enterprise Portal window shows one workspace at a time. If you want
to keep a workspace open for reference but be able to see other workspaces, open
more copies of the window.
1. Click New Window.
Tivoli Enterprise Portal duplicates the original window.
2. Open a workspace in the new window.
The two windows are autonomous.
3. Click New Window again.
You can have as many Tivoli Enterprise Portal application windows open as
you like.
4. Remove the two new windows by clicking Close in the upper-right corner of
each window.

Lesson: Using views

For this lesson, your user ID requires the Navigator Physical view as an
Assigned View, and the Enterprise level as the Assigned Root for that view.

Viewing full screen

You can enlarge a view to get a closer look at the details.
1. If the Enterprise Monitoring Status workspace is not open, click Enterprise.
2. Click Maximize in the upper right corner of any view in the workspace.
The bar chart benefits from being enlarged. If it has limited space for showing
category labels, you will see labels for every other bar, every third bar, or
whatever is necessary to fit the space.
3. Click Restore to return the view to its original size.

Minimizing the Navigator

To give the workspace more room, you can minimize the Navigator view.
1. Click in the Navigator view toolbar.
The adjacent workspace views expand to fill the gap.

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2. Click Restore <Navigator view name> in the lower-right corner of the

status bar.

Information on mouseover
The chart, table and graphic views show more detail when you move the mouse
pointer over certain areas.
1. Mouseover each column heading in the table views to see a short description of
the attribute.
2. Mouseover each bar of the bar chart to see the details: the count, situation
name and timestamp of the event.
You can also mouseover the slice of a pie chart or data point in a plot chart to
see the value.
If a table view or graphic view has been linked to a workspace, you can
mouseover the link anchor to see the possible link targets.

Lesson: Responding to alerts

Instead of looking for them yourself, you can have Tivoli Enterprise Portal
alert you to real or potential problems on your monitored network. With
event-based monitoring, the values of attributes are tested against thresholds and
an alert sent when a value matches the condition. These tests are called situations.

For this lesson, your user ID requires the View and Acknowledge permissions
for Events.

Note: This lesson assumes a situation called TEP_Tutorial was created with the
lesson, “Lesson: Creating a situation” on page 118. Within a few moments of
creating the TEP_Tutorial situation, you should see on the Navigator
item. If you are in an environment that already has a situation event to
which you can respond, work with that situation event instead.

Lights in the Navigator

When an alert appears over a Navigator item icon, it indicates the situation
associated with that Navigator item has become true.

The example shows the roll-up effect of situation events. Although there are Oracle
events with three levels of severity—Warning, Informational, and Critical—as you
move up the Navigator hierarchy, the situation events are consolidated to show
only the indicator of the highest severity.

Roll-up effect of situation events in the Navigator

Enterprise

Windows Systems

RETAIL1

Oracle

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Alert Log

Cache Totals

Contention

Databases

Opening the situation event workspace

The situation event workspace has views to help you understand the cause of the
event and what to do about it.
1. Move the mouse pointer over or any event indicator above it in the
Navigator.
As you move your mouse pointer over an event indicator, a flyover list opens
showing the true situations for that branch of the Navigator, grouped by
severity. For every situation listed, the flyover displays:
v The severity of the situation event and the name of the situation.
v The node name where the situation event occurred, followed by the
two-letter code for the monitoring agent type.
v The date and time of the situation event.
v The display item if one was created for the situation.
A display item is an attribute you can select when building a situation with a
multiple row attribute group. With a display item set, the situation continues
to look at the other rows in the sampling and opens more situation events if
other rows qualify.
v Other information:
the situation event has been acknowledged;
the acknowledgment has expired;
the acknowledgment was removed before it had expired and the situation is
still true;
the situation is not functioning properly and you will not be able to open its
situation event workspace; or
the situation has been stopped and you will not be able to open its situation
event workspace.

2. Select TEP_Tutorial from the list of INFORMATIONAL situations.

3. Review the situation event workspace that opens.
When the situation event workspace opens, the Navigator expands that branch
of the tree and shows a situation item. Multiple events within a branch are
consolidated under one event indicator in.
The four views in this workspace help you investigate the condition and take
action if necessary:
v Initial Situation Values shows the values of the attributes when the situation
fired. You can see the situation formula by moving the mouse pointer over
the highlighted value that caused the situation event.
v Current Situation Values shows the current values of the attribute group used
in the situation. You can see the situation formula by moving the mouse
pointer over an attribute value that was used in the formula.
v Take Action enables you to send a command to an application started on the
managed system where the situation event occurred or on another managed
system.

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v Expert Advice appears if the author of the situation included it. This view will
show a Web page if the text consists only of a URL reference.

Figure 6. Situation event workspace

Notice the More entries below the situation Navigator item. These indicators
keep the tree compact so you can see more alerts in the viewable area without
having to scroll. Click More if you want to open that branch of the tree.

Acknowledging a situation event

Acknowledgments enable users responsible for handling situation events to
communicate their ownership of the event and its working status.

Acknowledging a situation event places a blue checkmark next to the situation

in the event flyover list. If the situation is still true when the acknowledgment
expires or if you cancel the acknowledgement before it expires, the indicator
changes accordingly.

To create an acknowledgment that signals to other users you are investigating the
situation event, do the following:
1. Right-click the TEP_Tutorial item in the Navigator, then select Acknowledge
from the pop-up menu.
The Acknowledgement window opens.
2. Adjust the Expiration settings so the acknowledgment expires in five minutes.
3. Type a note for the situation event, such as, This situation and event are for
training purposes only. Please disregard., then click to insert an event
timestamp.
4. Click OK to close the window.

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The situation item in the Navigator and event flyover list shows for the
acknowledgment. The indicator turns off if the situation becomes false. If the
situation is still true when the acknowledgment expires, the indicator will
change to Expired, and remains until the situation goes to false or is
closed.

Closing the situation event workspace

The situation event item remains in the Navigator until you exit Tivoli Enterprise
Portal or remove it. Removing the item does not affect the event or the situation.
1. Right-click the TEP_Tutorial event item in the Navigator.
2. Select Remove Event Item from the pop-up menu.
The situation event item is removed from the Navigator. To see it again, you
need open its workspace by selecting the true situation from the event flyover
list.

Conclusion
In this chapter, you learned the basics of monitoring:
v the Navigator and how to use it to open workspaces and respond to situation
events
v real-time monitoring with workspaces and how you can manipulate them, such
as to minimize the Navigator for more viewing space
v event-based monitoring with situations and how to handle situation events
when they open

The next chapter, introduces the views available for workspaces and has a lesson
on customizing a workspace. The remainder of the chapter covers workspace
functions and creating a simple workspace-to-workspace link.

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Chapter 5. Custom workspaces

This chapter introduces the different views you can add to a workspace, followed
by a lesson in Customizing a Workspace. The remainder of the chapter describes
the formatting options for workspaces.

Workspace Views
The predefined workspaces for your IBM Tivoli Monitoring product consist
primarily of chart and table views. You can save them as new workspaces and
customize them with over a dozen types of views.

Data views
The table and chart views are the first step to getting something meaningful from
the data being collected. When you understand what values and states are causing
problems, you can refine your views to show what is important.

Table view
Table views show a column for each attribute, and only a single row of data if the
attribute group is one that reports only one row; or multiple rows for multiple-row
attribute groups or historical reporting.

Chart views
Your predefined workspaces may have any of five different chart views:

Pie Chart has a slice for every data point in a single data series (row). Pie
charts best show the proportional value of related attributes to a whole, such as
the percentage attributes that show how memory is being used.

Bar Chart displays a bar for each data point. Bar charts are best suited for
comparing values among related attributes. The stacking bar chart best shows
multiple values for the same attribute.

Plot Chart shows changes over a period of time by drawing a continuous line
from one data point to the next, one data point for each data sampling and one
line for each attribute selected. The plot chart best shows trends over time and
among related attributes.

Circular gauge shows the proportional amount of a data series, one gauge for
each attribute chosen. This type of chart is well suited for showing individual
elements that change frequently, such as percentage user time.

Linear Gauge shows the collective value of every item in a single data series, one
gauge for each attribute chosen. This type of chart is well suited for showing
cumulative values.

Situation event views

The message log and situation event console views update automatically to show
new events as they arrive and changes in event status as they occur. The graphic
view gives you a pictorial alternative to the Navigator for indicating alerts.

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Message Log shows the status of situations and events that have been opened for
the managed systems in your enterprise, up to 100 row entries.

Situation Event Console view adds a row for every event status change for
situations associated with this branch of the Navigator, up to 100 rows. The
console has a toolbar for quick filtering to show only those rows of interest, and a
pop-up menu for responding to alerts.

Graphic view displays a map or illustration that is overlaid with icons for
Navigator items and their alerts.

Other views
Your workspaces may also have any of these specialized views.

Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer to display events from the Tivoli Enterprise
Console event server. You can also integrate events with situation events from the
monitoring server.

Notepad view so you can write notes about the workspace. When saved with the
workspace, you can read notes from and write notes for other users.

Universal message console view shows situation and policy activity, and messages
received as the result of universal message generation.

Take Action view for sending a command directly to a managed system. For
example, if you see a process consuming too much memory, you can send an email
to someone to shut down the application or you can send shut down command
directly to the managed system. Some monitoring agents come with a set of
predefined take action commands that you can choose from a list. You can also
issue commands yourself, and save those you use often for inclusion in the list of
available action commands.

Chapter 13, “Terminal view” for starting a 3270 or 5250 session to access your
mainframe applications, or for starting the Telnet interface. If the terminal view
specifies a terminal emulator script then, whenever you open the workspace, the
script will run automatically. For example, you may have a script that starts an
OMEGAVIEW session.

Browser view for opening Web pages. The URL is saved with the browser view
when you save the workspace, and the browser opens to that address whenever
you open the workspace. The URL could supply additional monitoring information
for the current application, and you can navigate to other URLs.

Lesson: Customizing a workspace

A workspace can have one view or as many as you can practically fit into the
space. In this lesson you will create a new workspace from the Enterprise
Monitoring Status workspace and tailor it with new views. By completing this
lesson, you will learn how to customize workspaces to make them work for you.

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For you to complete this lesson, your user ID requires Workspace Author Mode
permission, the Navigator Physical view as an Assigned View, and the Enterprise
level as the Assigned Root for that view.

Saving a new workspace

1. If the Enterprise Monitoring Status workspace is not open, click the
Enterprise Navigator item.
2. Select Save Workspace As from the File menu.
3. Type the name, TEP Tutorial, for the new workspace and add a description,
such as, Joe’s lesson work from the Getting Started tutorial.
4. Click OK.
You now have a duplicate of the Enterprise Monitoring Status workspace that
you can modify.

Adding a view
Now you will drop a browser view and a notepad view into the workspace.
1. Click Browser, then release the mouse button.
2. Move the mouse anywhere inside the top-right view in the workspace and click
once.
After you select a view from the toolbar, the mouse changes to a hand when it
hovers over a view. After you click, the browser view replaces the old view.
Initially, the browser view opens the Tivoli Enterprise Portal overview from the
help.
3. Enter a URL in the address field, such as http://www.ibm.com.
Now add a notepad view:
4. Click Notepad, then release the mouse button.
5. Click inside the Open Situation Count - Last 24 Hours bar chart.
The notepad view replaces the chart.
6. Write a short note such as, Here is where I keep notes about what I should review
the next time I start a portal work session.
If this were your default workspace for Enterprise, you would see this text
whenever you started Tivoli Enterprise Portal.
7. Click Save Workspace.

Multiple workspaces
You have just created another workspace for the same item. In the following
exercise you learn how to see what other workspaces are available for an item and
open them.
1. Use the techniques you have learned to open a workspace somewhere else in
the Navigator.
2. Click the Enterprise Navigator item.
The default workspace opens instead of the one you just created.
3. Right-click the highlighted Enterprise Navigator item.
A pop-up menu opens.
4. Point to Workspace then select your new workspace, TEP Tutorial.
Your new workspace replaces the default workspace.

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Tip: If you are making changes to a workspace and make a mistake, you can
start over without saving your changes. Just select the workspace from the
pop-up menu as you did in this exercise. When asked if you want to save
the workspace, click No. The workspace appears as it was when last
saved.

Splitting a view
When you added a view, you replaced an existing view. Use the split tools when
you want to add more panes to a workspace or keep the original view intact.
1. If the TEP Tutorial workspace is not open, select it from the pop-up menu for
Enterprise
2. Click Split Vertically in the notepad view toolbar.
The space divides in half and now there are two identical versions of the
notepad view.
3. Click Table, release the mouse button, then click inside one of the notepad
views.
If you add a table or chart view to a workspace and choose no query or the
query is inappropriate for the type of chart, no data will appear. The query
specifies from which attributes to retrieve data from the agent.
4. When a message asks if you want to assign the query now, click Yes and
continue to “Selecting a query”.

Selecting a query
1. If you did not select Yes when a message asked if you want to assign the query
now, right-click the table view you just created and Select Properties from
the pop-up menu.
2. In the Query tab, select

Click here to assign a query.

The Query editor opens with a list of all IBM Tivoli Monitoring product
queries.
3. Open the Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server and Managed System
branches, and select the Current Managed System Status query.
The query definition opens in the right frame.
4. Click OK twice: once to select this query for the table and close the Query
editor; again to close the Properties editor.
The table has no highlighting of the OFFLINE cells and title is not very
descriptive. You can change these in the Properties editor.

Formatting the table in the Properties editor

1. Open the Properties editor again, this time by clicking

Properties.
When you open the Properties editor from the toolbar, the properties for the
workspace open. Here is where you can set a workspace as the default for the
Navigator item or hide it from view if you want it available only as a link.
2. Select the table view you created earlier (named Table) from the list on the left.
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3. Click the Filters tab and uncheck the columns you do not want in the view:
Origin Node
Host Address
Managing System
Affinities
You can also enter a formula in the cells to filter the number of rows returned.
For example, you could choose to show only the agents that are offline.
4. Click the Thresholds tab and add an informational threshold for OFFLINE:
a. Click inside the first cell under Status.
b. Leave the function at Value.
c. Leave the operator at Equal.
d. Click inside the text box and type *OFFLINE.
e. In the cell at the beginning of the same row, select Informational.
If you click Show Formula, the Formula area will show: Status == ONLINE
5. Click the Style tab and type a description in the Header Text field: Managed
System Availability.
6. Click OK to close the editor and see the results.

Workspace Customization Options

What you can do

The changes you can make to a workspace include the following:
v Split a view horizontally or vertically into two separate views.
v Change the dimensions of the views by dragging the borders between them.
v Maximize the view and, if you like, save the workspace while the view is still
maximized.
v Change a view to a different type, such as from a pie chart to a bar chart.
v Edit the workspace properties, such as to make it the default workspace.
v Edit the properties of the individual views to control their styles, and in table
and chart views, to determine what data to display.
v Build a link to another workspace so that you can jump from one to the other
workspace very quickly.
v Save a copy of the current workspace (with File > Save As) and edit the copy.

Properties editor
Every workspace has general properties and an additional set of properties for
each view it contains.

The Properties editor shows a tree on the left with the workspace followed by then
folders for every type of view in the workspace.Appearing to the right of the tree
are the workspace or view properties, depending on which is selected in the tree.

The Properties editor shows one or more tabs for the different view types.

Note that the Take Action and Browser views have no properties associated with
them, although the Style tab appears if you select Properties.

The Workspace properties open when you select Properties from the toolbar. If you
opened the Properties editor by right-clicking a workspace view and selecting it

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from the pop-up menu, the view’s properties show like the bar chart example in
the next figure. You can get to the workspace properties by clicking the top-most
entry in the Properties tree.

You can open the Properties editor for a specific view by right-clicking the view
and selecting Properties from the pop-up menu. Once the editor is open, select a
view from the tree to see its properties.

Design guidelines
Here are some guidelines to help you plan your workspaces.
v Tailor the content of a workspace to the Navigator level in the hierarchy:
Workspaces at the top of the hierarchy can show summary information. Those at
lower levels can provide more detailed information.
v Do not crowd too much information in one workspace. Instead, have multiple
workspaces at one level. Have summary information at the agent level of the
Navigator Physical view.
v Use custom queries that pre-filter the data used in a table or chart to ensure
fastest data retrieval and that you see no extraneous data. And use as few
different queries as possible in one workspace.
v Design at the same monitor resolution. If you are creating in workspace
administration mode for multiple users, use 1024 x 768, which is the lowest
resolution Tivoli Enterprise Portal can run at.
v For table views with many columns, arrange them so the important ones are
visible. Consider removing some columns by pre-filtering (Properties > Query)
or post-filtering (Properties > Filters).
v Any changes you make to a workspace are available only to your Tivoli
Enterprise Portal user ID; no one else will see your changes. The exception is
when you work in workspace administration mode, where any workspace
customization you make is available to all users. See the Tivoli Enterprise Portal
help or the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Administrator’s Guide.

Tip: The managed systems available for reporting are those assigned to the
Navigator item. If you are not sure which are assigned, select the Navigator
item, then right-click it and Select Properties from the pop-up menu.

Create and edit a workspace

Whenever you encounter a workspace that is not defined, you are, in essence,
creating a workspace. This is also true whenever you add a new workspace to a
Navigator item.

For you to create, edit, restore or delete a workspace, your user ID requires
Workspace Author Mode permission.

Save a new workspace

1. Select the Navigator item where you want the new workspace.
2. Select Save Workspace As from the File menu.
3. Type a workspace name and, optionally, a description.
The name appears in the title bar or browser mode banner.
4. Enable any workspace options as needed:

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Assign as default for this Navigator Item if you want this workspace to open
when you click the Navigator item.
Do not allow modifications if you want to protect the workspace from
changes. Users with access to this workspace can change it temporarily, but if
they attempt to save it, the Save Workspace As window opens to save it as a
new workspace.
Only selectable as the target of a Workspace Link to hide the workspace
except as a possible Link To destination.
5. Click OK.
You now have a duplicate you can modify.

Add a view
No matter which view you add to a workspace, the same technique is used.
1. Open the workspace where you want the view.
2. If you want the view to occupy a new space, click Split Vertically or Split
Horizontally in an existing view.
The pane divides and a duplicate is created. If you split the Navigator, the new
view is empty.
3. Click one of the view types, then release the mouse button.
4. Point and click inside the space to adopt the new view.
As you hover over a view, the mouse pointer changes to . When you click,
the new view replaces the previous view.
Many view types require more configuration and styling before they show
what you want and in a format you like.
5. Configure and format the view as needed:
Data Views What a New View Shows
Table The table fills the space with the results of the current query. If
as message asks you to assign as query and you select No, the
table will appear as a gray box with no column headings. If a
query was assigned and you see column headings but no data,
it means there are no values to display.
Use the Properties editor to select a query or to add filters,
thresholds, or styling.“Customize a table view” on page 46

Pie chart
Bar chart
Plot chart
Circular gauge
Linear gauge
The chart fills the view space. If no query has been chosen or
the query is inappropriate for the chart, you will see no data.
You will need to open the Properties editor and, in the Query
tab, select a query, then, in the Filters tab, select the attributes
to include in the chart.
If the Select Attribute window opens, select an attribute (use
Ctrl+Click or Shift+Click to select more), then click OK.
Use the Properties editor to select a query or to add filters or
styling.

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“Customize a chart view” on page 51

Event Views What a New View Shows
Message Log (User ID requires View permission for the Event
feature.) The message log shows the status of all
events that have been opened for the managed
systems in your enterprise, up to 100 row entries.
If you see no entries, it means no events have been
opened or their status has not changed.
“Message log view” on page 92
Situation event console (User ID requires View permission for the Event
feature.) The situation event console adds a row for
every event status change of situations associated
with this branch of the Navigator, up to 100 rows.
If you see no entries, it means no events have been
opened or their status has not changed.
“Situation event console view” on page 95

Graphic The default background, a map of the world, fills

the view space. Icon representing all items in this
branch of the Navigator overlay the graphic.
“Graphic View” on page 99
Other Views What a New View Shows
Notepad A blank notepad fills the view space. You can use
the standard editing and cursor movement keys:
Backspace, Delete, Arrows, Home, End.
Take Action (User ID requires View permission for the Action
feature.) A take action window fills the view space
so you can select the action and destination.
Terminal The Terminal Emulator Configuration window
opens. After you enter the host address and port
number and select the terminal type, connection is
established and the session fills the view space.
“Customizing a terminal view” on page 175

Browser The view space fills with the Tivoli Enterprise

Portal overview help topic as the default web page,
which you can change through the Location box.
The Tivoli Enterprise Portal integrated browser
uses little memory and provides basic browser
functionality. It does not have many of the
extended features, such as Search and Favorites,
that come with some external browsers. Also, it
may encounter problems when trying to render
web pages at certain web sites.

Edit workspace properties

Use the Properties editor to change the general characteristics of a workspace and
to edit the style and content of any of its views.
1. Open the workspace you want to edit and click Properties.

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The Properties editor opens with a list of views on the left and the workspace
properties on the right.
2. Make any changes to the workspace properties:
Name, where you can rename the workspace if you like. The name appears in
the title bar or browser mode banner.
Assign as default for this Navigator Item to open this workspace when you
click the Navigator item.
Do not allow modifications to protect the workspace from changes.
Only selectable as the target of a Workspace Link to hide the workspace
except as a possible Link To destination.
3. To save your changes, click Apply if you want to keep the editor open; -OR-
OK if you want to close the editor.
4. To see the properties of any view in the workspace, select the view from the
Properties tree.
The properties tabs for the view open in the right frame.

Restore the original workspace

If you have edited a predefined workspace or one created in 234, you can always
restore the original version.
1. Open the predefined or administrator-mode-created workspace to restore.
If you want to retain the original and edited versions as two separate
workspaces, select Save As from the File menu and give the workspace a new
name, then repeat this step.
2. Select File > Restore Original Workspace.
This item is disabled if the original predefined or administrator-created
workspace is open, or if this is a workspace created with your user ID.
3. When a confirmation message appears, click Yes to restore the original
workspace or No if you change your mind.
The workspace reverts to its original state.

Delete a workspace
1. Open the workspace you want to delete.
You cannot delete predefined workspaces or those that were created in
workspace administration mode.
2. From the File menu, select Delete Workspace, then Yes to confirm.

Link from a Workspace

Overview
The link feature enables you to define a link from one workspace to another. You
can then quickly jump to a related workspace to investigate system conditions.

A link that originates from a Navigator item is often a simple link to the target
workspace. Once a link has been defined, you can link to the target workspace by
selecting the link from the source workspace.

For you to define a link, your user ID requires Workspace Author Mode
permission.

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Define the link

You can define a link from one workspace to another in this or another Navigator
view, then access the link from the Navigator pop-up menu.
1. Open the source workspace (where you want to originate the link).
2. Right-click its highlighted Navigator item, point to Link To and select Link
Wizard from the pop-up menu.
If you are linking from a workspace that is not the default for that Navigator
item, its name will show in the title bar, but not in the Navigator. The link
source will be recorded correctly, however, so the Link To list will be available
when the workspace is open.
3. Select Define New Link, then click Next.
4. Type a Name and Description for the Link Identity, then click Next.
5. In the Target area, select the Navigator item whose workspace you want to
open.
The workspaces available for that Navigator item appear in the Workspaces
area. You can also can link to workspaces in a different Navigator view.
6. If the Workspace area shows multiple workspaces, select the one to open.
7. If you want to change the target method, click Relative.
The default method is absolute and is recommended for links between
Navigator views. An absolute link remembers the system name of the chosen
target and goes only there, whereas a relative link will be available from the
same item type at the same level of the Navigator. With a relative link, you
may be prompted to select the target if more than one workspace fits the link
definition.
8. Click Finish.
You can now invoke the link from the workspace where you started the Link
Wizard.
If you had clicked Next instead, the Link Wizard would have opened the Link
expression editor for customizing the target workspace results based on one or
more values from the launch point.
9. Save the workspace if you want to retain the link definition.

Select the link

Once a link has been defined, you can link to the target workspace by selecting the
link from the originating workspace.
1. Open the workspace from where the link originates, then right-click its
Navigator item.
2. In the pop-up menu, point to Link to and select a workspace from the list.
3. If there are multiple workspaces available, the Select Target window opens:
Select the Navigator item and click OK.
4. If a message asks you to “Please select a leaf node”, click OK, then select an
item deeper in the tree hierarchy.

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Chapter 6. Table and chart views

This chapter focuses on the formatting, filtering and styling options available for
data views. The options and how you implement them affect not only the
presentation of data, but how quickly it shows up in the workspace.

What can tables and charts show?

A table or chart view shows performance data—the result of a query for attribute
values from the Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server, a Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring
Agent, or from an ODBC-compliant database for which you have written a custom
SQL query.

Table view
Table shows a column for each attribute and one or more rows of data.
Figure 7 shows a multiple-row attribute group and the indicators that may appear
in a table view. This table:
v has been sorted by %User Time in descending order. Click any column heading
to change sort order.
v links to another workspace (indicated by link anchors).
v has an informational threshold set for Process Name; and critical, warning and
information thresholds set for the %User Time values. A threshold column
shows a , Critical, Warning, or Informational icon you can click to sort
by the threshold value. A column with multiple thresholds shows the indicator
for the highest threshold.
v has a hot scroll button, which tells the user to scroll in that direction to see more
threshold values for that state.

Figure 7. Table view of a multiple-row attribute group

You can also get table views to show data samplings over a period of time. The
attribute group must be either a historical attribute group or have been configured
for historical data collection, in which case you will see Time Span in the view
toolbar for setting the time period.

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Chart views
You can customize a workspace with any of five different chart views:

Chart Best for... Multiple Multiple rows Multiple Time

attributes managed span
systems
Showing One slice per One pie per row One pie for each Yes
proportional attribute managed system
value to the
Pie whole, such as
percentage
attributes
Comparing One bar per One set of bars One set of bars Yes
values among attribute. per row. for each
related Stacking bars Stacking bars managed system
Bar attributes; show one show one bar
stacking bars for segment per per row
comparing attribute
cumulative
values.
Showing trends One line per No No Yes
over time and attribute; one
among related data point for
Plot attributes each data
sampling
Showing One gauge per No No No
individual attribute
elements that
Circular change
Gauge frequently
Showing One gauge per No No No
cumulative attribute.
values for each
Linear attribute
Gauge

Note: Pie charts, bar charts, and plot charts can show data samplings over a
period of time. The attribute group for the chart must be either a historical
attribute group or have been configured for historical data collection, in
which case you will see Time Span in the view toolbar for adjusting the
time reported.

Customize a table view

This section describes how to add a new table view to the workspace and edit its
properties to change the data query, add filters and thresholds, and style it.

To create a new view and edit its properties, your user ID requires Workspace
Author Mode permission.

Create a new table

1. Open the workspace to which you want to add a table view.
2. If you do not want the view to replace an existing view and it should occupy a
new space, click Split Vertically or Split Horizontally in one of the views.

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3. Click Table, release the mouse button, then click inside a view.
The mouse pointer changes to a hand as you move inside the workspace.
The old view is replaced by the table. If no query was chosen for the view you
are replacing, no data will appear and you need to choose a query.
The table view shows current data retrieved from a monitoring agent or alert
manager or from an ODBC data source, one column for every attribute. The
table reports a single row of data or multiple rows, depending on the nature of
the attribute group and whether historical data collection has been established
for this group.
If you are happy with the contents of the table and its appearance, you are
done. Otherwise:
v If a message asks you to assign a query, click Yes, then, In the Query tab of
the Properties editor, select Click here to assign a query and continue
with “Select a query” on page 51.
The Query editor opens with a list of all IBM Tivoli Monitoring product
queries.
v Select a query if the table is empty or you want to report different attributes.
v Filter the table to control the columns and rows that display.
v Add column thresholds to highlight a cell when the value reaches an
informational, warning or critical threshold.
v Style the table to edit the header or footer and adjust the formatting.

Column manipulation
Without going to the Properties editor, you can change the appearance of the table
view:
v Adjust column width by dragging a border left or right.
v Lock a column by right-clicking inside the column heading and selecting
Lock this Column. The column and any columns to left are fixed in place as
you scroll the table left or right. To unlock, right-click a column heading and
select Unlock Table Columns.
v Change column order by dragging a column heading and dropping to insert it
between other columns.
v Click a column heading to sort the table by that column in ascending order, click
again for descending, and again to go back to the original arrangement. (You can
also build a query that specifies a sort order, as described in Creating custom
queries.)

Select a query
1. If the Properties editor is not open, right-click the table view and select
Properties from the pop-up menu.
2. In the Query tab, select Click here to assign a query.
The Query editor opens with a list of Tivoli monitoring product queries.
3. Click to expand the Tivoli monitoring product and attribute group
folders to see the queries.
4. Select a Query title to see its description.
The query description, edit date, and specification show in the right frame. The
checked boxes indicate which attributes from the group are included in the
query. The cells in the numbered rows show any filter criteria for the query.

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5. When the query you want to use is open, click OK to select it for this view and
return to the Properties editor.
The next step applies only to multiple-row attribute groups or tables that have
Time Span is set for retrieving historical data.
6. Optional: To change the number of rows retrieved at one time from the default
100 rows per page, select one of the following from the View-level Page Size
area:
Return all rows to retrieve the entire row set to the view at one time. If
there are many rows, the table view may take some time to display.
Number of rows to return to specify the exact number of rows to apply
to a page. Keep the number to a size than can be retrieved in a reasonable
period of time.
7. Do one of the following:
v To add filtering, thresholding or styling to the view, select the appropriate
tab and follow the steps in the sections that follow.
v To edit the properties of another view in this workspace, click Apply to save
your changes, then select the next view from the Properties tree on the left.
v To apply your changes and close the editor, click OK.
If you chose a custom SQL query that includes a variable in the statement, you
will be prompted to enter a value when you click Apply or OK. The value
filters the view, but is temporary and cannot be saved with the workspace.

Filter the table

Use the Filters tab to select which attributes to display and to include only those
rows of interest.
1. If the Properties editor is not open, right-click the table view and select
Properties from the pop-up menu.
2. Click the Filters tab.
3. Select a check box beneath a column heading to include the attribute in the
view; clear a check box to exclude it.
If you clear a check box, you can still add a filter expression for that attribute
(next step).
4. If the attributes report multiple rows of data and you want to limit what
displays, enter a filter expression:
v Click a cell under a column to activate the editor and formula bar. Then click
inside one of the fields to:
change the function from the default Value of expression (or Compare
date/time for time attributes) to another function.
change the relational operator from the default Equal to Not equal,
Greater than, Greater than or equal, Less than, or Less than or equal.
enter the value to be compared with the values arriving from the
managed system. Enumerated attribute values, such as online or offline, will
have a list of possible choices.
v See Appendix A, “Formula functions,” on page 205.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 if the filter criteria involves multiple columns or multiple
rows:
v Expressions entered in the same row have an AND relationship. In the
example below, a row will be written when the Process Name includes java

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-AND- user time exceeds 5%. (Scan for string within a string equals ’java’ for
Process Name AND % User Time < 5.)

Figure 8. Filters tab showing expressions with an AND relationship

v Expressions in different rows have an OR relationship. In the example below,

a row will be written when the value of Process Name is either System or
Services.

Figure 9. Filters tab showing expressions with an OR relationship

6. Do one of the following:

v To add thresholding or styling to the view, select the appropriate tab and
follow the steps in the sections that follow.
v To edit the properties of another view in this workspace, click Apply to save
your changes, then select the next view from the Properties tree.
v To apply your changes and close the Properties editor, click OK.

Add column thresholds

You can add thresholds to highlight cells whose values meet the threshold set.
1. If the Properties editor is not open, right-click the table view and select
Properties from the pop-up menu.
2. Click the Thresholds tab.
3. Click in a cell below the column for which you want to enter a threshold
expression. This activates the editor and formula bar:
v You can click inside any of the three fields:
to change the function from the default Value of expression (or Compare
date/time for time attributes) to another function.
to change the relational operator from the default Equal to Not equal,
Greater than, Greater than or equal, Less than, or Less than or equal.
to enter the value to be compared with the values arriving from the
managed system. Enumerated attribute values, such as online or offline, will
have a list of possible choices.
v See Appendix A, “Formula functions,” on page 205.
4. If you want to change the highlight from the default Critical, click in the cell
at the beginning of the row you just edited and select Warning or
Informational.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to add more threshold expressions to this or another
column:

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v The threshold expressions you enter in the same row have an AND
relationship. When a retrieved value satisfies all the expressions in a row, the
cell background will be colored.
v The threshold expressions in each row are independent. If a retrieved value
satisfies the conditions in more than one row, the cell background will show
the color for the highest severity, the lowest being Informational and highest
being Critical.

Figure 10. Setting threshold colors for a data view

The threshold expressions in the formula editor (Figure 10) are rendered in the
table view (Figure 11). Notice the hot scroll buttons indicating more critical and
informational threshold cells above and below the view space:

Figure 11. Table view with threshold coloring

6. Do one of the following:

v To add styling to the view, select the appropriate tab and follow the steps
below.
v To edit the properties of another view in this workspace, click Apply to save
your changes, then select the next view from the Properties tree.
v To apply your changes and close the Properties editor, click OK.

Style the table

Use the Style tab to change the appearance and behavior of the table. The Style tab
has a thumbnail graphic with the style elements as clickable areas.

You can add thresholds to highlight cells whose values meet the threshold set.
1. If the Properties editor is not open, right-click the table view and select
Properties from the pop-up menu.
2. Click the Style tab.
3. Click the Header or Footer area of the thumbnail graphic.
4. In the Options area, enable or disable Show Header (or Show Footer) and Show
Border.
5. In the Title area, type a header (or footer) in the Text field, and make any
changes to the font styling.

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6. When you are finished editing the view, click Apply to save your changes, then
select another view to edit from the Properties tree; -OR- click OK to save your
changes and close the window.

Customize a chart view

This section describes how to add a new chart view to the workspace and edit its
properties to change the query, add filters, and use the style options.

To create a new view and edit its properties, your user ID requires Workspace
Author Mode permission.

Create a new chart

1. Open the workspace to which you want to add a chart view.
2. If the view should occupy a new space, click Split Vertically or Split
Horizontally in one of the views.
3. Click Pie chart, Bar chart, Plot chart, Circular gauge, or
Linear gauge, then release the mouse button.
If you are not sure which chart is most appropriate, review the table of “Chart
views” on page 46.
4. Point and click inside the view where you want the chart.
If no query has been chosen or the query is inappropriate for the chart, you
will see no data. You will need to open the Properties editor and select a query,
then, in the Filters tab, select the attribute(s) to include in the chart.
5. If the Select Attribute window opens, select an attribute (use Ctrl+Click or
Shift+Click to select more), then click OK.
This window opens when you replace a table view (or another chart view type)
with a chart view, which can show only numeric attributes, and Tivoli
Enterprise Portal needs to know which attributes to include in the chart.
6. If a message asks you to assign a query, click Yes, then, In the Query tab of the
Properties editor, select

Click here to assign a query and continue with “Select a query.”

The Query editor opens with a list of all IBM Tivoli Monitoring product
queries.
7. Use the Properties editor to select a query or to add filters and any chart
styling:
v Select a query if the chart is empty or to show different attributes than what
you see now.
v Filter the chart to control the data series that display.
v Style the chart to edit the header or footer and adjust the formatting.

Select a query
The query determines which attributes are available to display in the chart.
1. If the Properties editor is not open, right-click the chart view and select
Properties from the pop-up menu.
2. In the Query tab, select Click here to assign a query.

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The Query editor opens with a list of Tivoli monitoring product queries and
any custom queries.
3. Click to expand the Tivoli monitoring product and attribute group
folders to see the queries.
4. Select a Query title to see its description.
The query specification shows in the right frame. The checked boxes indicate
which attributes from the group are included in the query. The cells in the
numbered rows show any filter criteria.
5. When the query you want is open, click OK to select it for this view and return
to the Properties editor.
The next step applies only to multiple-row attribute groups or charts that have
Time Span set for retrieving historical data.
6. Optional for pie and bar charts: To change the number of rows retrieved at one
time from the default 100 rows per page, select one of the following from the
View-level Page Size area:
Return all rows to retrieve the entire row set to the view at one time. If there
are many rows, the chart may take some time to display.
Number of rows to return to specify the exact number of rows to apply to
a page.
This setting controls the page-break size of the pie chart and bar chart views.
For example, a pie chart gives you one pie for each row of data returned, so 50
rows will give you 50 pies in the view. By limiting the page size to, say, three
rows, you can have three pies on a page, using PageDown to turn to the next
page. The smaller page size speeds up data retrieval to the workspace because
only one page is retrieved at a time rather than the entire row set.
7. Follow the steps in Filter the chart to select the attributes to display.
Because charts cannot show text or time attributes, when you select a query, no
attributes are enabled in the Filters tab.

Filter the chart

When you select a query for a chart, the display of all attributes is turned off. Use
the Filters tab to select which attributes to see.
1. If the Properties editor is not open, right-click the chart view and select
Properties from the pop-up menu.
2. Click the Filters tab.
3. Check beneath a column heading to include the attribute in the view;
uncheck to exclude it.
Checkboxes for the text and timestamp attributes are disabled.
“Chart views” on page 46 will help you determine which attributes will work
well with the chart you have chosen.
4. If the attributes report multiple-rows of data and you want to limit what
displays, enter a filter expression:
v Click a cell under a column to activate the editor and formula bar. Then click
inside any of the three fields:
to change the function from the default Value of expression (or Compare
date/time for time attributes) to another function.
to change the relational operator from the default Equal to Not equal,
Greater than, Greater than or equal, Less than, or Less than or equal.

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to enter the value to be compared with the values arriving from the
managed system. Enumerated attribute values, such as online or offline, will
have a list of possible choices.
v See Appendix Appendix A, “Formula functions,” Appendix A, “Formula
functions,” on page 205.
5. Repeat step 4 if the filter criteria involves multiple columns or multiple rows:
v Expressions entered in the same row have an AND relationship. In the
example below, a row will be written when the process name includes java
and user time exceeds 5%. (Scan for string within a string equals java for
Process Name AND % User Time > 5.) See Figure 8 on page 49.
v Expressions in different rows have an OR relationship. In the example below,
a row will be written when the process name is either System or Services.
See Figure 9 on page 49.
6. Do one of the following:
v To add styling to the view, select the appropriate tab and follow the steps
below.
v To edit the properties of another view in this workspace, click Apply to save
your changes, then select the next view from the Properties tree.
v To apply your changes and close the Properties editor, click OK.
If you chose a custom SQL query that includes a variable in the statement, you
will be prompted to enter a value when you click Apply or OK. The value
filters the view, but is temporary and cannot be saved with the workspace.

Style the chart

Use the Style tab to change the appearance and behavior of the table. The Style tab
has a thumbnail graphic with the style elements as clickable areas.

You can add thresholds to highlight cells whose values meet the threshold set.
1. If the Properties editor is not open, right-click the table view and select
Properties from the pop-up menu.
2. Click the Style tab.
3. Click the thumbnail graphic on the area you want to edit.

Pie chart

Use pie charts to see the proportional value of each item to the whole.

The pie is divided into slices for every data point in a single data series (row).

When you specify attributes from a group that returns multiple rows, Tivoli
Enterprise Portal draws a pie for each row. When the query is assigned to multiple
managed systems, you will get a pie for each managed system.

You can tilt a pie chart by holding down the Alt key while dragging the mouse
pointer up or down anywhere on its surface; adjust the height of the pie by
holding down the Shift key while dragging the mouse pointer.

If you have historical configuration set up, you can also display data from
previous refreshes using Time Span in the view toolbar.

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Plot Area Click the pie area of the thumbnail graphic to open the Pie Chart
tab.
Pie Chart
2D to display flat pies
3D to display three-dimensional pies that you can tilt up or
down by dragging the chart view surface.
Header Click Header on the thumbnail graphic to open the Header tab.
Header
Show Header displays the header text at the top of the chart.
Show Border draws an outline around the header text.
Text shows the view title and is where you can edit the font
styling.
Footer Click Footer on the thumbnail graphic to open the Footer tab.
Footer
Show Footer displays the text at the bottom of the chart.
Text shows the footer text and is where you can edit the font
styling.
Legend
Click Legend on the thumbnail graphic to see the Legend tabs.
Legend - General
Legend adds a legend in the chart
Border applies an outline around the legend.
Position of the legend in the chart. Click to see and select
another position.
Font is the font to use for the legend and is where you can edit the
font styling.
Legend Label
Legends lists the attributes that are being plotted. Select an
attribute from the list to see and change the legend text or the pie
slice color.
Text shows the legend label—the attribute name.
Fill Color is the color for the label and pie slice, which you can
change to one of the available colors, or click Custom Color to
choose from a wider selection or create your own.
Category Click Category on the thumbnail graphic to open the Category tab.
Category Label
Font is the font to use for the category label and is where you can
edit the font styling.
Attribute name to be used for the category label. Click to see
and select an available attribute or the Default Category Label.

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Bar chart

Bar charts are best suited for comparing values among related attributes.

A bar is plotted displays each data point. Attributes are listed vertically with each
attribute given its own bar, and values drawn horizontally.

For multiple-row attributes, Tivoli Enterprise Portal displays a bar grouping for
every row.

You can rotate a 3D bar chart by holding down the Alt key while dragging the
mouse pointer anywhere on the chart; adjust the thickness of a bar by holding
down the Shift key while dragging the mouse.

If you have historical configuration set up, you can also display data from
previous refreshes using Time Span in the view toolbar.

If the bar chart has limited space for showing category labels, you will see labels
for every other bar, every third bar, or whatever is necessary to fit the space. Try
maximizing the view to see all the labels, then restore when you are done. You can
also change the font size of the label.
Plot Area Click the bar area of the thumbnail graphic to open the Bar Chart
tab.
Bar Chart
Type is either Bar Chart or Stacking Bar Chart. The Stacking Bar
Chart is useful for showing multiple values for the same attribute.
2D to display flat bars
3D to display three-dimensional bars that you can tilt up or
down by dragging the chart view surface.
Header Click Header on the thumbnail graphic to open the Header tab.
Header
Show Header displays the header text at the top of the chart.
Show Border draws an outline around the header text.
Text shows the view title and is where you can edit the font
styling.
Footer Click Footer on the thumbnail graphic to open the Footer tab.
Footer
Show Footer displays the text at the bottom of the chart.
Text shows the footer text and is where you can edit the font
styling.
Value Click Value axis on the thumbnail graphic to see the Value Axis
tabs.
Value Axis - General
Grid adds grid lines to the value axis.

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Invert Category Axis and Value Axis switches the axis values, so
category becomes the vertical axis and value becomes the
horizontal axis.
Axis Label
Show Text displays the axis label text.
Text is the title that appears next to the value axis and is where
you can edit the font styling.
Horizontal applies the axis label horizontally (same orientation
as the values).
Vertical rotates the label to display it vertically along the axis.
Value Axis
Font is the font to use for the values along the axis and is where
you can edit the font styling.
Horizontal displays the axis values horizontally.
Vertical rotates the axis values to display them vertically along
the axis.
Category Click Category on the thumbnail graphic to open the Category tab.
Category Axis - General
Grid adds grid lines to the category axis.
Invert Category Axis and Value Axis switches the axis values, so
category becomes the vertical axis and value becomes the
horizontal axis.
Axis Label
Show Text displays the category axis label text.
Text is the title that appears next to the category axis.
Font is used for the category axis label.
Size is the font size in points.
Horizontal applies the label horizontally (same orientation as the
values) along the category axis.
Vertical rotates the label to display it vertically.
Category Axis
Font is the font to use for the values along the axis and is where
you can edit the font styling.
Horizontal displays the axis values horizontally.
Vertical rotates the axis values to display them vertically along
the axis.
Attribute name to be used for the category label. Click to see
and select an available attribute.
Legend Click Legend on the thumbnail graphic to see the Legend tabs.
Legend - General
Legend adds a legend in the chart

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Border applies an outline around the legend.

Position of the legend in the chart. Click to see and select
another position.
Font is the font to use for the legend and is where you can edit the
font styling.
Legend Label
Legends lists the attributes that are being plotted. Select an
attribute from the list to see and change the legend text or the bar
color.
Text shows the legend label—the attribute name.
Fill Color is the color for the label and the bars, which you can
change to one of the available colors, or click Custom Color to
choose from a wider selection or create your own.

Plot chart

The plot chart is useful for showing trends over time and among related attributes.

The chart shows changes over a period of time by drawing a continuous line from
one data point to the next, one data point for each data sampling and one line for
each attribute selected.

Unless this is a historical view, set the workspace to refresh automatically at

intervals, as described in “Refreshing a workspace” on page 28.

If you have historical configuration set up, you can also display data from
previous refreshes using Time Span in the chart view’s toolbar.

If the attribute is from a multiple-row attribute group, only the value from the first
row will be charted. The plot chart can show data from one managed system only.
Plot Area Click the plot area of the thumbnail graphic to open the Plot Chart
tab.
Plot Chart
Plot Duration has a slider bar for adjusting the duration of the
chart, from five minutes (300 seconds) to one hour (3600 seconds).
If the chart continues to display after the duration is complete, old
plot points drop off as new values arrive.
Header Click Header on the thumbnail graphic to open the Header tab.
Header
Show Header displays the header text at the top of the chart.
Show Border draws an outline around the header text.
Text shows the view title and is where you can edit the font
styling.
Footer Click Footer on the thumbnail graphic to open the Footer tab.
Footer

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Show Footer displays the text at the bottom of the chart.

Text shows the footer text and is where you can edit the font
styling.
Value Click Value axis on the thumbnail graphic to see the Value Axis
tabs.
Value Axis - General
Grid adds grid lines to the value axis.
Invert Category Axis and Value Axis switches the axis values, so
category becomes the vertical axis and value becomes the
horizontal axis.
Axis Label
Show Text displays the axis label text.
Text is the title that appears next to the value axis and is where
you can edit the font styling.
Horizontal applies the axis label horizontally (same orientation
as the values).
Vertical rotates the label to display it vertically along the axis.
Value Axis
Font is the font to use for the values along the axis and is where
you can edit the font styling.
Horizontal displays the axis values horizontally.
Vertical rotates the axis values to display them vertically along
the axis.
Category Click Category on the thumbnail graphic to open the Category tab.
Category Axis - General
Grid adds grid lines to the category axis.
Invert Category Axis and Value Axis switches the axis values, so
category becomes the vertical axis and value becomes the
horizontal axis.
Axis Label
Show Text displays the category axis label text.
Text is the title that appears next to the category axis.
Font is used for the category axis label.
Size is the font size in points.
Horizontal applies the label horizontally (same orientation as the
values) along the category axis.
Vertical rotates the label to display it vertically.
Category Axis
Font shows the font to use for the values along the axis and is
where you can edit the font styling.
Horizontal displays the axis values horizontally.

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Vertical rotates the axis values to display them vertically along

the axis.
Attribute name to be used for the category label. Click to see
and select an available attribute.
Legend Click Legend on the thumbnail graphic to see the Legend tabs.
Legend - General
Legend adds a legend in the chart
Border applies an outline around the legend.
Position of the legend in the chart. Click to see and select
another position.
Font shows the font to use for the legend and is where you can
edit the font styling.
Legend Label
Legends lists the attributes that are being plotted. Select an
attribute from the list to see and change the legend text or the bar
color.
Text shows the legend label—the attribute name.
Fill Color is the color for the label and plot lines, which you can
change to one of the available colors, or click Custom Color to
choose from a wider selection or create your own.

Circular gauge chart

A circular gauge shows the proportional amount of a data series, one gauge for
each attribute chosen. This chart is well suited for showing individual elements
that change frequently, such as percentage user time for a process.

If the attribute is from a multiple-row attribute group, only the value from the first
row will be charted. The circular gauge chart can show data from only one
managed system.
Plot Area Click the circular gauge area of the thumbnail graphic to open the
Scale, Center, Needle, Tick and Range tabs.
Scale
Type is Top Half Circle by default, which you can change to Full
Circle, Top Half Circle, Bottom Half Circle, or Left Half Circle.
Color shows the gauge color. You can change to an available color,
or click Custom Color to choose from a wider selection or create
your own.
Center
Show Center places a shape at the base of the pointer, which is a
red circle by default. Uncheck this box remove the center shape.
Color shows the color of the center shape, which you can change
to an available color, or click Custom Color to choose from a wider
selection or create your own.
Needle
Style of the needle is Arrow by default. You can change it to:
Arrow, Pointer, Rectangle, Tailed Arrow, Tailed Pointer, or Triangle.

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Length has a slider bar for adjusting the needle length relative to
the radius of the circle. The default is 80%.
Width has a slider bar for adjusting the needle width from 1 pixel
up to 20. The default is 12 pixels.
Color shows the needle color, which you can change to one of the
available colors, or click Custom Color to choose from a wider
selection or create your own.
Tick
Type of tick mark is set to Line by default. You can select a
different marker: Circle, Line, Rectangle, Reverse Triangle, Triangle.
Tick Mark Color shows the color of the tick marks, which you can
change to an available color, or click Custom Color to choose from
a wider selection or create your own.
Show Tick Labels enables you to turn off the range number that
appears next to the tick mark. When the box is checked, the labels
are colored as shown in the field below. You can change the label
color to one of the available colors, or click Custom Color to
choose from a wider selection or create your own.
Range
Select the Range tab to change these styles:
Attribute shows the attribute to which the range applies. Set the
range to display on the gauge. If you chose multiple attributes for
the view, you can select another attribute from the list.
Range Values Minimum Value initially shows the default lowest
possible value; Maximum Value shows the default highest possible
value. You can edit the values to reflect a more realistic range, if
needed. The example here shows a circular gauge with the default
range of -2.147483648E9 to 2.147483648E9, and after it was changed
to a range of 0 to 5000.

Select Apply to all views that use this attribute if this range is
appropriate for this attribute on all other managed systems. The
range will be used only for gauge views of this attribute.
Click Edit Subranges to add threshold coloring:

Attribute shows the attribute to which the subranges apply. If you

chose multiple attributes for the view, you can select another
attribute from the list.
The first example shows three threshold ranges, all of which
extend from 80% to 100%: 0 to 2300; 2300 to 4000; and 4000 to

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5000. The second example adds two more definitions, which

extend from 60% to 80%: 0 to 3000; and 3000 to 5000.
If you were extend a subrange from 0% to 100%, it would create an
effect like a pie slice.
Defined Subranges shows any definitions that were created for this
attribute:
v Select the definition to edit or click Create New and enter a
name to create a new definition.
v Select a color from the list or click Custom Color to choose
from a wider selection or to create your own.
v Deselect Show subrange if you want to suppress the subrange
for this view.
v In the Minimum Value and Maximum Value fields, enter the
beginning and ending threshold values for the subrange.
v Adjust the Inner Extent and Outer Extent sliders to set where the
fill starts and ends. The center point of the gauge is 0% and the
outer edge is 100%.
v Click Apply to save the definition.
Header Click Header on the thumbnail graphic to open the Header tab.
Header
Show Header displays the header text at the top of the chart.
Show Border draws an outline around the header text.
Text shows the view title and is where you can edit the font
styling.
Legend Click Legend on the thumbnail graphic to see the Legend Label
tab.
Legend Label
Legends lists the attributes that are being plotted.
Text shows the title of the selected attribute as it will appear in the
label.
Value Click Value on the thumbnail graphic to see the Value tab.
The Text Style area shows the Font name to use for the attribute
value that displays below the gauge, Size of the font in points, and
Bold and Italic.

Linear gauge chart

A linear gauge shows the collective value of every item in a single data series, one
gauge for each attribute chosen. This type of chart is well suited for showing
cumulative values.

If the attribute is from a multiple-row attribute group, only the value from the first
row will be charted. The linear gauge chart can show data from only one managed
system.
Plot Area Click the linear gauge area of the thumbnail graphic to open the
Scale, Needle and Tick tabs.
Scale

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Orientation is Horizontal by default and can be changed to

Vertical.
Color shows the gauge color. You can change to an available color,
or click Custom Color to choose from a wider selection or create
your own.
Needle
Style of the needle is Arrow by default. You can change it to:
Arrow, Pointer, Rectangle, Tailed Arrow, Tailed Pointer, or Triangle.
Length has a slider bar for adjusting the needle length relative to
the radius of the circle. The default is 80%.
Width has a slider bar for adjusting the needle width from 1 pixel
up to 20. The default is 12 pixels.
Color shows the needle color, which you can change to one of the
available colors, or click Custom Color to choose from a wider
selection or create your own.
Tick
Type of tick mark is set to Line by default. You can select a
different marker: Circle, Line, Rectangle, Reverse Triangle, Triangle.
Tick Mark Color shows the color of the tick marks, which you can
change to an available color, or click Custom Color to choose from
a wider selection or create your own.
Show Tick Labels enables you to turn off the range number that
appears next to the tick mark. When the box is checked, the labels
are colored as shown in the field below. You can change the label
color to one of the available colors, or click Custom Color to
choose from a wider selection or create your own.
Range
Select the Range tab to change these styles:
Attribute shows the attribute to which the range applies. Set the
range to display on the gauge. If you chose multiple attributes for
the view, you can select another attribute from the list.

Range Values Minimum Value initially shows the default lowest

possible value; Maximum Value shows the default highest possible
value. You can edit the values to reflect a more realistic range, if
needed. The example here shows a gauge with the default range of
-2.147483648E9 to 2.147483648E9, and after it was changed to a
range of 500000 to 2000000.
Select Apply to all views that use this attribute if this range is
appropriate for this attribute on all other managed systems. The
range will be used only for gauge views of this attribute.
Click Edit Subranges to add threshold coloring:

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Attribute shows the attribute to which the subranges apply. If you

chose multiple attributes for the view, you can select another
attribute from the list.
Defined Subranges shows any definitions that were created for this
attribute:
v Select the definition to edit or click Create New and enter a
name to create a new definition.
v Select a color from the list or click Custom Color to choose
from a wider selection or to create your own.
v Deselect Show subrange if you want to suppress the subrange
for this view.
v In the Minimum Value and Maximum Value fields, enter the
beginning and ending threshold values for the subrange.
v Adjust the Inner Extent and Outer Extent sliders to set where the
fill starts and ends. The base of the gauge is 0% and the outer
edge is 100%.
Click Apply to save the definition.
Header Click Header on the thumbnail graphic to open the Header tab.
Header
Show Header displays the header text at the top of the chart.
Show Border draws an outline around the header text.
Text shows the view title and is where you can edit the font
styling.
Legend Click Legend on the thumbnail graphic to see the Legend Label
tab.
Legend Label
Legends lists the attributes that are being plotted.
Text shows the title of the selected attribute as it will appear in the
label.
Value Click Value on the thumbnail graphic to see the Value tab.
Value
The Text Style area shows the Font name to use for the attribute
value that displays below the gauge, Size of the font in points, and
Bold and Italic.

Historical reporting

Overview
The following views have a tool for setting a time span, which causes previous
data samples to be reported within the time range you specify:
v table view
v bar chart
v pie chart
v plot chart

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As well, your monitoring agent may have predefined workspaces with historical
views.

The historical data shown in these views is retrieved from history files set up
through the History Collection Configuration window. These history files collect 24
hours worth of data. Beyond 24 hours, the oldest data samples are deleted as new
ones arrive, or if you have a data warehouse, the data is rolled off before being
deleted.

Configuring data collection

To ensure that data samplings are saved to populate your predefined historical
workspaces, you must first configure and start historical data collection for each
attribute group. This requirement does not apply to workspaces using attributes
groups that are historical in nature and show all their entries without your starting
data collection separately.

Historical attribute groups

Some attribute groups are of a historical type, such as the Windows Message Log.
Such historical attribute groups do not require you to configure history collection,
unless you want to roll off to a data warehouse. The Time Span feature, rather than
showing more data, limits what displays to the time period indicated.

For information on warehousing historical data, see the Tivoli Enterprise Portal
Administrator’s Guide.

Setting a time span

You can have Tivoli Enterprise Portal log data samplings into history files for
display in a table or chart. Such history-enabled views have a tool for setting a
range of previous data samples to be reported.

If the Time Span tool is disabled (dimmed), your user ID does not have
Workspace Author Mode permission.

Note: If you do not see Time Span in the view’s toolbar, data collection has not
been started for this attribute group. See Setting a time span and Start or
stop historical data collection.
1. Open the workspace containing the table or chart where you want to report
historical data.
2. Click Time Span.
If the tool is unavailable, no historical reporting is possible for this view. (See
Notes at the end of this topic.) Historical data is available in the table, bar
chart, pie chart, and plot chart views when historical collection has been
configured and started for the monitoring agent associated with the view.
3. Click the Last or Custom radio button (or Real time to stop historical
reporting).
4. If you selected Last , enter the length of time to report in digits, then select an
interval from the list: Hours, Days, Weeks, Months, Quarters, or Years.
5. In the parameters area, click the Use detailed data or Use summarized data
radio button:
v For Use detailed data, all data samples for the specified time period will be
chosen. If multiple time attributes are available, you can select one to be the
first column in the historical view from the Time Column list.

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v For Use summarized data, specify the time period, shift, and days for which
to retrieve the summarized data samples.
6. If you chose Custom time span, you can specify an exact Start Time and End
Time :
a. For Start Time and End Time, click the adjacent list box to open the date
editor.
b. Click next to the element to change (year, month, hour, minute, second or
AM/PM) to adjust up or down.
If you close the date editor without clicking the day of the month, the changes
you just made will not take effect.
7. If you want to apply the time span to any other views in the workspace that
use this query, select the Apply to all views associated with this view’s query
check box.
8. Click OK.
The view shows data from earlier samplings for the period specified. If this is a
table, a time stamp appears as the first column and is accurate to the nearest
minute; seconds appear as 00.
9. To keep the time span settings for this view, click Save.

Note: Even if data collection has been started, you will not be able use the time
span feature if the query for the chart or table includes any column
functions. If this is the case, you can select or create another query to enable
Time Span.

The sort function is incompatible with the historical reporting feature. If you
are using Time Span to retrieve historical data, the chart or table will not be
sorted even if you have specified a sort order in the query. Nonetheless, you
can still sort a table by clicking a column heading.

Disable historical reporting

To set the view back to showing only current data samplings, do the following:
1. Click Time Span in the view that should stop historical reporting.
2. Select Real time and click OK.
If this is a table view, the left-most time stamp column no longer appears. The
view now shows data from the current sampling only. The exception is views
of attribute groups that are normally historical, such as the Situation Status and
the Windows Event Log. By selecting Real time, you enable these attribute
groups to show all data they have collected, up to 2000 of the most recent
entries.
3. To keep the time span settings for this view, click Save.

Configure historical data collection

Configuring historical data collection involves specifying the attribute groups from
which to save data samplings, the collection interval, the rolloff interval, if any, and
where to store the collected data.

Your user ID must have Configure History permission to see and use this
feature.
1. Click History Configuration to open the History Collection Configuration
window.

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2. In the Select a product list, click the monitoring agent for which you want to
collect data.
The Select Attribute Groups area fills with the attribute groups for which you
can collect historical data. When you select a product type, you are configuring
collection for all like managed systems.
3. Select one or more attribute groups, then use the Configuration Controls area to
select the interval and location for data collection. If you have a Tivoli Data
Warehouse you can also configure the warehousing interval, and the time
periods for data summarization and pruning, and the length of time to keep
the summarizations. (Click Help for a description of these options.)
Not all attribute groups are available. This is because some are deemed
inappropriate or would have a detrimental effect on performance.
It is preferable to collect data at the monitoring agent rather than the
monitoring server. Collecting at the monitoring server adds network overhead
and increases CPU consumption. This is not true, however, for the z/OS-based
OMEGAMON products that run in the same address space as the monitoring
server: Data must be collected at the monitoring server.
4. Click Configure Groups to apply the configuration selections to the
highlighted attribute groups.

Note: The controls show the default settings when you first open the window. As
you select attribute groups from the list, the controls do not change for the
selected group. If you change the settings for a group, those changes
continue to display no matter which group you select while the window is
open. This enables you to adjust the configuration controls once and apply
the same settings to any number of attribute groups (one after the other, or
use Ctrl+click to select multiples or Shift+click to select all groups from the
first one selected to this point). The true configuration settings show in the
group list.

Configuring data collection for logs

The Tivoli Monitoring Services Logs apply to all applications. If you want to save
the information in these logs, you should configure them for warehousing. You can
configure historical data collection for any of the Tivoli Monitoring ServicesLogs.

Note that query support is not provided for Universal Message Log or
TWORKLST (Worklist Log).

Start or stop historical data collection

Use the Status tab of the History Collection Configuration window to view the
configuration and collection status for each attribute group of a selected product.
You also use the Status tab to start and to stop collection.
1. If the History Collection Configuration window is not open, click History
Configuration.
Use Refresh Status to see any new settings.
2. Select a product.
3. Select the attribute groups for which you want to start or stop data collection.
Shift+click to select a contiguous group, or Ctrl+click to select individually.
4. Do one of the following:
v Click Start Collection.
At this point, two files are created for every attribute group selected: a
configuration file with a .hdr extension; and a binary history file with no

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extension. For example, if you select the Windows Cache attribute group, the
two history files are NTCACHE.hdr and NTCACHE.
v Click Stop Collection.

Creating custom queries

Overview
Tivoli Enterprise Portal chart and tables views show the values of attributes from
your Tivoli Monitoring Services products or ODBC data source. Underlying each of
these views is a query that specifies which attributes to retrieve and from where.

Figure 12 illustrates the use of queries. Click a Navigator item to open its default
workspace. Any queries go to the monitoring server to retrieve sampled data from
the monitoring agents. The results are displayed in the table and chart views .
The graphic view is a non-data view and does not use a query.

Figure 12. Queries used in a workspace

Once a query retrieves the requested data, you can use the Properties editor Filters
tab to filter out any unwanted data from the view. You can use the same filtering
capability in the query itself to filter the data before it is retrieved. This pre-filtering
means the Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server has less data to retrieve and therefore
speeds up the process.

Other data views in the workspace can use the same data retrieved by the query.
Using the same query for multiple views in a workspace conserves resources at
both the portal server and monitoring server.

Create a monitoring server query

With the Query editor you can create your own queries to the monitoring server
and add a pre-filter composed in the same way as a post-filter for a table or chart
view. Additionally, you can add a column function to average, count, total, or find
the minimum or maximum value of a column and group the results accordingly.
Notes:
1. These steps have you copy (Create Another) an existing query and edit the
copy. Although you can Create a new query, we recommend this method to
ensure the query has the necessary symbol expression to reference the managed
systems. Otherwise, no data will be retrieved.

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2. If you do not see the Query tool, your user ID does not have View or Modify
Query permissions.
3. If you can see the tool but it is disabled, your user ID does not have Workspace
Author Mode permission.
4. If you can open the Query editor but the tools are disabled, your user ID does
not have Modify Query permission.
1. Do one of the following to open Query editor:
v Click Queries.
v Right-click a table or chart view where you would like to apply the new
query, Select Properties from the pop-up menu, then Click here to
assign a query.
2. Click the plus sign to expand the monitoring agent and attribute group
folders to see the queries.
3. Find a query similar to the one you want, select the query and click
Create another query.
4. In the Name field, type a name of up to 32 letters, numbers, underscores (_)
and spaces, then click OK.
A duplicate of the original query appears with the name you entered.
5. In the Description field, type a new description, up to 256 characters and
spaces.
6. Edit the specification for any changes you want to make:
v Add an attribute to the query by clicking Add Attributes and selecting the
attributes you want to include. The attributes available are from the group
used in the original query.
v Remove an attribute by right-clicking the column heading and selecting
Delete. (You can also right-click a row and delete it.)
v Clear the filter criteria by right-clicking the cell, column or row and selecting
Clear Contents.
v Insert a row by right-clicking the row and selecting Insert.
v Cut, copy or paste by right-clicking the cell or row and selecting Cut, Copy
or Paste. When you paste, the contents of the clipboard overwrites the cell
or row.
v Add filter criteria by clicking in a cell and writing the expression. See “Cell
Functions” on page 207. == $NODE$ (or any name enclosed in dollar signs)
is a required filter; you must not delete it.
v Add a column function by clicking in the column heading and selecting a
function from the list; then clicking Advanced, and selecting the column to
Group By. See “Group Functions” on page 211.
v Specify a sort order by clicking Advanced, and selecting the column to Sort
By (see “Advanced options” on page 69). Note that if you selected a Group
By column, you cannot also specify a sort order.
v Specify the exact number of rows to show in the view by clicking Advanced
(see “Advanced options” on page 69), and selecting the First / Last number
to retrieve.
See the Tivoli Enterprise Portal help for examples.
7. Optional: If you opened the Query editor from the view Properties, you can
change the list of managed systems from which the query will extract data:
Select the Query Results Source tab, select Let user assign explicitly, then
remove managed systems from the Assigned list with and add them with .

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Regardless of the managed systems assigned to a query, a plot chart, circular

gauge chart, or linear gauge chart can show data from only one managed
system. If you are using the query in a workspace where multiple systems are
applicable (at the platform level of the Navigator Physical view), the data
shown will be from the first managed system in the Assigned list.
8. When you are done, click Apply to save the query and keep the editor open;
-OR- click OK to save the query and close the window.
If you opened the Query editor from the Properties window, clicking OK also
selects the query for the current view.

Note: The attributes in a query can be from one group only; you cannot mix
attributes from different groups in the same query.

Advanced options
Click Advanced in the Query editor to open the Advanced Options window. It has
three tabs for setting the sort order of the view, the attribute to use in the column
function, and the number of rows you want to display from the beginning or end
of the list.

Note: The column, Sort By, Group By, and First/Last functions are not compatible
with the historical reporting feature. Use of these advanced functions will
make a query ineligible for historical data collection.
Even if data collection has been started, you will not be able use the Time
Span feature if the query for the chart or table includes any column
functions or advanced query options (Sort By, Group By, First / Last). If this
is the case, you can select or create another query to enable Time Span.

Sort By
Use this area to determine how the view will be sorted.
v Sort By lists the attributes used in the query. Click the radio button for the
sorting to be Ascending or Descending order. The default is None. Choose
a column to sort by.

Note: You cannot specify both a Sort By column and an Order By column
(required for column functions) in the same query.

Group By
Use this are to group the columns used in the query.
v Group By lists the columns included in the query. The default setting is None.
You can group the query results by the attribute you choose. Used in
conjunction with column functions. See “Group Functions” on page 211.
Notes:
1. Group By sets the grouping order for the column function, which also
determines the sort order. You cannot also specify a sort order in the Sort By
tab.
2. COUNT in a query to the monitoring server works differently than it does in a
situation. It counts the members referenced in the Group By statement, not
where you enter the COUNT function. The contents of the column where you
create the column expression are replaced by the count results. One of the
monitoring server query examples in the Tivoli Enterprise Portal help shows
how COUNT is used in a query: “Count the processes on each system”.

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First / Last Functions

Use this area to restrict the number of rows that display in the table or bar chart to
a specific number: the first rows retrieved from the monitoring agent or the most
recent rows.

None

First displays only the first, or earliest, rows received from the monitoring agent.
The number of rows that display is set in the text box.

Last displays only the last, or most recently arrived, rows from the monitoring
agent. The number of rows that display is set in the text box.

The ROWS portion of the formula shows only on the Query tab of the Properties
editor. For example, if your query is set to show only the most recent rows, up to
12 total, the formula shows as ROWS: LAST(12).

Constraints
The Constraints tab appears only when your user ID is in Workspace
Administration Mode.

Use this tab to list any constraints in the query. These are PARMA items. Most
queries do not have PARMA items, but those that do will list them here. You can
select one and edit or remove it, or add a new constraint. An example of a PARMA
item is TIMEOUT = 600. This PARM sets the view so that attempts to render it will
discontinue after 10 minutes.

Add opens the Query Constraint Information window, which has fields for you to
enter a PARMA name and its value.

Create a query for an ODBC database

The Query editor has a text editor for composing free-form SQL queries to any
ODBC-compliant data source located on the machine where your Tivoli Enterprise
Portal Server is installed. This enables you to integrate systems management data
from monitoring agents with data from other sources in one workspace.
Notes:
1. Be aware that anyone with permission to create custom queries obtains access
to all of the ODBC DSNs created at the Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server. Add
database user IDs (to be used in the DSN) to your database software, making
sure to restrict user access to only those tables, columns, and so on, allowed by
your organization’s security policies.
2. If you do not see the Query tool, your user ID does not have View or Modify
Query permissions.
3. If you can see the tool but it is disabled, your user ID does not have Workspace
Author Mode permission.
4. If you can open the Query editor but the tools are disabled, your user ID does
not have Modify Query permission.

To create a query of ODBC database attributes:

1. Do one of the following to open Query editor:
v Click Queries.

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v Right-click a table or chart view where you would like to apply the new
query, Select Properties from the pop-up menu, then Click here to
assign a query.

2. Click Create New Query.

3. In the Name field, type a name of up to 32 letters, numbers, underscores (_)
and spaces.
4. In the Description field, type a new description, up to 256 characters and
spaces
5. From the Category list, select the folder where you want the new query to
appear in the Query tree.
6. Select (highlight) an ODBC database in the Data Sources list.
If you do not see the database for which you want to create the query, it must
be added through Manage Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Services. See “Add a
Database to the Data Source List” in the Tivoli Enterprise Portal help.
Custom SQL is checked for you.
7. Click OK.
The new query appears in the Query tree under Folder (where Folder is the
category you selected) in the Custom_SQL folder. The Specification tab
opens with a Custom SQL text box for you to enter a SELECT statement. You
must be familiar with SQL commands and their syntax to write an SQL query.
8. Write the SQL statement in the text box using the proper syntax.
See the Tivoli Enterprise Portal help for examples.
9. When you are finished writing the SQL text, click Apply to save the query and
keep the window open, or click OK to save the query and close the window.
Notes:
1. Date/time format varies among databases. You must know the format and
write the appropriate SQL against it when selecting by date. Otherwise, the
statement may be invalid for the ODBC database to which the request is
directed.
2. If, when you apply the query to a table or chart view, the view remains empty,
your query has not been entered properly. Return to the Query editor and edit
the SELECT statement as needed.
3. If you included a variable in the statement, you will be prompted to enter a
value for it when you apply the query to a table or chart view. The value you
enter filters the data that appears in the view, but is temporary and cannot be
saved with the workspace. See Adding symbols to queries.
4. If you use an SQL editor to build the SQL query, then paste into the editor in
Tivoli Enterprise Portal, be sure to edit any non-standard coding to conform to
SQL standards. For example, Microsoft Access uses double quotes (“) around
strings, which must be changed to single quotes (‘) to be valid in SQL.

Delete a query
If you delete a query that is being used by a view, the view will no longer be
associated with a query and will have no data when you next open its workspace.
1. Do one of the following to open Query editor:
v Click Queries.
v Right-click a table or chart view where you would like to apply the new
query, Select Properties from the pop-up menu, then Click here to
assign a query.

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2. Click to expand the monitoring agent and attribute group folders to see
the queries.
3. Select the Query you want to delete and click Delete Query.
4. Click OK to confirm.

Adding symbols to queries

Most Tivoli Monitoring Services predefined queries include an == $NODE$ or
similar variable expression that identifies the managed systems. The $NODE$
symbol resolves to the node name of each managed system associated with the
Navigator item and serves to limit the retrieved data to those managed systems
rather than all of that agent type in your enterprise.

You can also add your own symbols to a query to provide more customization
options in the Link Wizard.

Adding a symbol for a monitoring agent attribute

To check for or to add a symbol to a query, do the following:
1. Open the workspace to which you plan to link.
This is the target workspace.
2. Right-click inside the table or chart view.
This is the view that has a key field you want to reference in the link
definition. Typically, it is the view that will show details for an attribute from
the row where you launched the link.

3. Select Properties from the pop-up menu, then Click here to assign a
query.
The Query editor opens.
4. Review the query specification to see that it has a symbol defined for the
attribute on which you want to build the custom link. Symbols are surrounded
by $ (dollar signs).
5. If the attribute has no symbol, create your own by entering $mysymbol$ in the
first cell in that column, where mysymbol is a one-word name.
If the query already has a symbol (or symbols) defined, such as
$WTPROCESS.IDPROCESS$, be sure to add your symbol to the same row to
create an AND expression.
You could create a symbol for any column whose value can be used to restrict
the number of rows returned. If the symbol resolves to a non-null value, a
restricting where clause will be added; if not, it will be skipped.
6. Click OK to save your changes to the query and close the window.
7. Repeat these steps for any other views whose query you want to modify.
When you are done, you can open the source workspace for the link and start
the Link Wizard from the chart or table row. The symbol you added appears in
the list of symbols available for the query.

Symbol format
v Use a one-word name surrounded by dollar signs, as in $mysymbol$, where
mysymbol is the symbol name.
v For symbols of monitoring agent attributes, do not use the same name as an
attribute. For example, $MYNODE$ is acceptable, but not $NODE$.
v When the link is launched, a symbol resolves to a value enclosed in single quote
marks if it is anything other than an integer. An integer resolves without the
quotes.

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Adding a symbol to a custom SQL query

Just as in monitoring server queries, you can use symbols in custom SQL queries
to ODBC-compliant data sources.

Follow steps 1 through 3 above to open the SQL query in the Query editor. Then
add the symbol to the SELECT statement, using the following guidelines:
v Use a one-word name surrounded by dollar signs, as in $mysymbol$, where
mysymbol is the symbol name.
v When the link is launched, a symbol resolves to a value enclosed in single quote
marks if it is anything other than an integer. An integer resolves without the
quotes. If you do not want the quote marks included in the resolved value, add
a pound sign after the first dollar sign as in $#noquotes$, where noquotes is the
symbol name. This notation is necessary for numeric data types.

In the following example, the value of $#myNumber$ is a number (such as 5 or

345).

SELECT * FROM MYTABLE WHERE MYCOLUMN = $#myNumber$

When you apply the query to a table or chart, you will be prompted to enter a
value for the variable as soon as you click Apply or OK. The value filters the data
that will show in the view, but is temporary and is not saved with the workspace.

Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server predefined queries

Overview
Every Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Agent is shipped with a set of predefined
queries that you can apply to a table or chart view. This section describes the
queries delivered with Tivoli Monitoring Services: the Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring
Server queries.

Custom SQL
The Custom SQL queries for the Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server give detailed
information about situations and other objects from logs stored at the monitoring
server. As a group, these queries are used primarily by system administrators in
conjunction with IBM Support for analyzing problems and for planning
optimization strategies.

EIB Change Log (EIBLOG)

This query provides information about changes to Enterprise Information Base
objects such as situations. It is useful mainly for diagnostic research with IBM
Support.

This is an ODBC query of the O4SRV.TEIBLOGT table on the hub monitoring

server that selects these fields: GBLTMSTMP, LSTUSRPRF, OBJNAME,
OPERATION, and TABLENAME.

Agent Operation Log (OPLOG)

The agent operation log provides information about situation messages that occur
on a specific managed system in your enterprise. It is useful mainly for diagnostic
research with IBM Support. This is an ODBC query of the O4SRV.OPLOG table
that shows a timestamp, message ID, the message text, and the severity.

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Managed System
These queries all use the same attribute group, Managed Systems. The attributes
are used to check vital heartbeat information from the monitoring server and
monitoring agents. You can create views with these predefined queries.

Current Managed Systems Status

When applied to a table view, this query displays all the Managed Systems
attributes. It displays such information as the monitoring agent product code and
the system name and IP address of the managed system. The Enterprise Navigator
item has a Managed System Status workspace that uses this query. A threshold
was applied to the Status column that highlights any offline managed systems.

Windows Systems Offline

When applied to a table view, this query displays all the Managed Systems
attributes but in a different order from the Current Managed Systems Status query
and it filters out all online managed systems so you see only those that are offline.

Windows Systems Online

When applied to a table view, this query displays all the Managed Systems
attributes but in a different order from the Current Managed Systems Status query
and it filters out all offline managed systems so you see only those that are online.

Situation Status Current

These queries use the Active Situation Status attributes to display status
information on situations and policies that are running.

Current Active Situation Status

When applied to a table view, this query displays all the Active Situation Status
attributes, similar to the situation event console and message log views.

Pure Event Occurrences by Situation

When applied to a table view, this query displays the situations with pure events
opened.

Situation Status Log

These queries use the Situation Status attributes to display status information on
started situations and policies.

Open Events Count - Enterprise

This query shows the every open event on the Enterprise and the number of
intervals the situation has been true since it was started.

Open Events Count - Managed System

This query shows the every open event on the managed system and the number of
intervals the situation has been true since it was started.

Situation Status Log

This query shows the status of the situations on this managed system. It is similar
to the message log view.

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Exporting query results

Overview
Table and chart views show the results of the query assigned, plus any filters you
have applied. The export feature lets you to save the results as a text file, either
TXT or CSV (Comma Separated Values), for use in other programs.

When saving the results, you can select additional columns from the query, even if
they were filtered out of the view, or fewer columns. And you can save all the
rows that were returned or, if there are multiple pages, just those on the current
page.

Save the data

1. Open the workspace with the table or chart view whose query results you want
to save.
2. The data sampling shown will be saved so, if you want the latest results, click
Refresh.
3. If this is a table, pie chart or bar chart view with multiple pages and you want
to save a particular page rather than all rows, click or until it displays.
4. Right-click inside the table or chart view and click Export from the popup
menu.
5. In the Export window, select the location for the exported data, the file type,
and enter a file name.
6. To export all rows of the columns shown (Assigned column), click OK; or to
specify otherwise, do any of the following:
v For the displayed page instead of all rows, click Visible rows.
v To add a column to those being exported, select from Available Columns and
click ; to exclude a column, select from the Assigned list and click .

v To change the order, select a column and click or .

Use Ctrl+click to select multiple columns or Shift+click to select all columns
from the first one selected to this point.

Note: If this is a new, unsaved table or chart view, Visible rows is selected for
you.

Link from a table or chart

Overview
Link from a Workspace in the previous chapter tells how to define a simple
workspace-to-workspace link. This section describes how to build a link from:
v row in the table view
v bar in the bar chart view
v slice in the pie chart view
v point in the plot char view

In the Link expression editor, you add expressions for passing values from the
source view to the target view when the link is executed. When a link is defined, it

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captures the characteristics of its environment. When a link is launched, it

processes the specifics of its environment to give you a filtered set of views.

For you to define a link, your user ID requires Workspace Author Mode
permission.

Review the query

When you define a link from a table row, pie chart slice, bar chart bar, or plot chart
point, you can specify an attribute whose value you want to use to refine what
shows in the target workspace. To do this, you need to reference a symbol from the
query applied to the data view in the target workspace. Before you begin, check
that the query has a symbol for the key attribute you want. See “Adding symbols
to queries” on page 72.

Define a link from a table or chart

A link from a table row (or situation event console row) or chart data series
supplies one or more values from the row to determine what to show in the target
workspace views.
1. Open the source workspace (where you want to originate the link).
2. Right-click one of the following, point to Link To and select Link Wizard
from the pop-up menu:
v row in the table view (or situation event console view)
v bar in the bar chart view
v slice in the pie chart view
v point in the plot char view
The Link Wizard opens.
3. Select Define New Link, then click Next.
4. Type a Name and Description in the text boxes, then click Next.
5. In the Target area, select the Navigator item whose workspace you want to
open.
The workspaces available for that Navigator item appear in the Workspaces
area. You can also link to a workspace in a different Navigator view.
6. If the Workspace area shows multiple workspaces, select the one to open.
7. If you want to change the target method, click Relative.
The default method is absolute (and recommended for links between Navigator
views). An absolute link remembers the system name of the chosen target and
goes only there, whereas a relative link will be available from the same item
type at the same level of the Navigator. With a relative link, you may be
prompted to select a target if more than one workspace fits the link definition.
8. Click Next to open the Link expression editor, then customize the target
workspace based on one or more values from the row. (See below, starting at
step 3.

Link expression editor

Use the Link expression editor to supply a dynamic header, footer or data filter for
any of the views in the target workspace. See the Tivoli Enterprise Portal help for a
list of Allowable Terms to use in building the link expression.
1. If the Link expression editor is not open, open the Link Wizard as described in
Define a link from a table or chart.

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You may need to click Next until you see the Link expression editor.
A link formula requires a target symbol (left frame) and an expression (right
frame). Other than this basic requirement, you can build the link with any
symbol shown. A link definition can have multiple formulas.
2. From the Target Workspace branch (left frame), select a Symbol that
identifies the attribute used to filter the target workspace, or select Footer or
Header to compose the title for the target view.
In this example you could choose NODE or MySymbol, or the Footer or Header for
either view:
Target Workspace

Query - <Query Name>

Symbols

NODE
MySymbol
Pie Chart - <Chart Title>
Footer
Header
Table - <Table Title>
Footer
Header
If you are defining a table or chart link and do not see a target query symbol
for the attribute you want to use to filter the view, you must edit the query to
add a symbol. Click Cancel to exit the Link Wizard, add a symbol to the query
for the target view (see “Adding symbols to queries” on page 72), then start
again.
3. In the Allowable Terms area, select a symbol from the Values list. If your
link originates from a table row or chart point, the Attributes branch opens so
you can select from the source view’s attributes:
Values
Link
Selected Row
Attributes
<Attribute Name>
<Attribute Name>
<Attribute Name>
<Attribute Name>
<Attribute Name>

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You can also type text enclosed in double quote marks (“) in the Expression
box. If you combine text with a value, separate the quotes from the value
expression with a plus sign (+). Examples:
Link expression Resolves to
$kfw.LinkSymbolsGroup:PBASED.SOURCE_CONTEXT.2.-1022$
Windows Systems
″My″+$kfw.LinkSymbolsGroup:PBASED.SOURCE_CONTEXT.2.-1022$
My Windows Systems
″My″+$kfw.LinkSymbolsGroup:PBASED.SOURCE_CONTEXT.2.-1022$+″ Now″
My Windows Systems Now
$kfw.LinkSymbolsGroup:PBASED.SOURCE_CONTEXT.2.-1022$+″ in the Navigator
″+$kfw.TreeAdapter:-1022$+″view″
Windows Systems in the Navigator Physical
view
4. Click Test to see the current value of the symbol and to confirm that the
expression is valid.
If no value or Syntax error appears in this window, the expression is invalid.
5. If the value is invalid or not what you want, click Clear, then select another
value and click Test.
Each time you select a value, a convenient Value button appears below the
Expression box to represent the term you just added. Move the mouse pointer
over each button to see its value, and click the button to add the value to the
Expression box.
6. If you want to add more terms to the expression, choose an Operator (such as
add) and another Symbol, apply a Function, or any combination thereof.
Be sure to click Test to check your syntax as you build the expression.
7. Repeat steps 2 through 7 to for any other symbols you want to add for the
views in the target workspace; click Finish when you are done.
8. Click Save or File > Save As to save the link definition with the workspace.
When you save the workspace, the link definition is saved with the workspace.
If you chose Relative as the target method, the link is available from the same
kind of workspace.
When you invoke the link, the result of the expression for each symbol supplies
a value for the target workspace. Any footers and headers you defined will
replace any existing footers and headers in the views. If the launch point is a
table row, a column of link anchor icons appears at the beginning of the table.
Now you are ready to test the link, described next.

Testing the link

1. In the source workspace, right-click the place where you launched the Link
Wizard:
v A row in the table view (or situation event console view).
v A bar in the bar chart view.
v A slice in the pie chart view.
v A point in the plot char view.

2. In the pop-up menu, point to Link To and select the link from the list.

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Tivoli Enterprise Portal uses the value of the symbol(s) specified in the link
definition to select the target workspace and its content. An example is a link
from a row in a view that includes the Process Name, and the value of Process
Name is passed to the target workspace. The view(s) whose symbol was
targeted will show information about that particular process.
3. If the target workspace does not display what you expected, edit the link:
a. Open the Link Wizard from the launch point.
b. Select the link, then click Next twice to open the Link expression editor.
c. If the Target Workspace branch does not show the Symbol you need
to specify the right attribute, create one as described in Adding symbols to
queries, then edit the link again.

Tip:: If you were prompted to select the target workspace, but wanted the link
definition to be specific so you do not get this message, do one of two
things: If you had chosen a target selection mode of Relative, define a
new link and leave the target selection mode at Absolute; if the target
selection mode was already set to Absolute, edit the link definition to add
an expression for a target symbol that will uniquely identify the
workspace.

Add or edit a link anchor

When you have a link that originates from a table row or a Graphic view icon, a
link anchor appears: Click the link anchor to open the default link or to see and
select from a list of possible links. Use the Link Anchor Properties to hide the link
anchor, disable it for table rows that do not meet the link criteria, or assign a
different default link or no default link.
1. Open the link source workspace.
2. Right-click a table row or the graphic view icon where you originated the link.
3. Select Link Anchor from the pop-up menu.
4. In the Link Anchor Properties, select a default link from the list or select (No
Default).
When you select the option to show the link anchor (next step), the user can
click the anchor to go directly to the default linked workspace or, if no default
link was assigned, to see and select from the list of available links.
5. Uncheck Show Link Indicator if you want no link indicator in the first
column of the table.
If you disable the indicator, users can still link to the target workspace by
right-clicking a table row.
6. Uncheck Link Indicator Always Enabled only if this is an advanced link
from a table, with filtering and you want to enable the indicator only for rows
where the link is available.
An example would be a link that is not available for the Idle process. The link
indicator in this row would be dimmed to show it was disabled.
7. Click OK to close the window, then click Save to save your changes to the
workspace.

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Edit or delete a link definition

1. In the source workspace, right-click the point of origin, point to Link To and
select Link Wizard from the pop-up menu: row in the table (or situation
event console view); bar in the bar chart; slice in the pie chart; point in the plot
chart.
2. Select the link you want to edit or delete, then do one of the following:
v Click Next, edit the name or description in the Link Identity area, click Next
to open the Link expression editor, then select the target view Symbol
whose expression you want to edit. See “Link expression editor” on page 76.
v Click Delete to remove the link definition.

Select the link

Once a link has been defined, you can link to the target workspace by selecting the
link from the source workspace.
1. Open the workspace where the link originates.
2. Do one of the following:
v For a table link, click the Link Anchor link anchor in the table row for
which you want more information; or right-click the row or anchor.
v If there is only one link or a default link was assigned to the link anchor, the
target workspace opens. Otherwise, a Link To list will display.
v For a chart link, right-click a segment of the pie chart, bar of the bar chart, or
point of the plot chart. Point to Link To and select from the list.
3. If Tivoli Enterprise Portal needs you to specify the location of the target
workspace, a Select Target window will open. Select the Navigator item and
click OK.
4. If a message asks you to Please select a leaf node, click OK, then select an
item deeper in the tree hierarchy.
Notes:
1. If you see a dimmed link indicator in the table, it means the link is not
available from that row.
2. Links that originate from a table row or chart series may appear to drill down
to a more detailed view, but the actual link is to the same or different
workspace and uses the value of one or more of the attributes from the source
row to filter the data views.

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Chapter 7. Navigator views

You can create new Navigator views and customize them for any logical hierarchy.

Overview
Custom Navigator views are selectable, navigable and show event indicators in the
same way as the Navigator Physical view. Unlike the Navigator Physical view,
custom Navigator views can be edited. You can, for example, design a Navigator
view for Manufacturing and another for Marketing. This is all done through the
Navigator editor.

You can build Navigator views in two ways: by sharing items with an existing
view and by creating new items.

When you share an item with an existing view, all the managed systems,
workspaces, link definitions, and situations on the source item are applied to the
newly shared item. From then on, changes to one item (such as adding a new
workspace) are applied to the other.

When you create a child item, it has no characteristics other than the managed
systems you assign. Child items offer a means for grouping items that have a
certain relationship, such as all the databases used for sales and inventory. Because
a child item is new to the Navigator view, it will have no workspace defined.

For you to follow the descriptions and instructions in this chapter, your user ID
needs the following permissions: Custom Navigator Views, Modify Situation, and
Workspace Author Mode. Also, the Navigator Physical view must be an Assigned
View.

Lesson: Building a Navigator view

This lesson takes you through the basics of creating a new Navigator view and
customizing it. The purpose of this view is rather specialized: to ensure the coffee
gets made.

Creating a new view

1. In the Navigator toolbar, click Edit Navigator View.
The Edit Navigator View window opens with the Navigator Physical view on
the right and the Logical view on the left.
2. Click Create New Navigator View.
3. In the window that opens, identify the view as follows and click OK:
Name: Coffee
Description: Created by Student for the TEP tutorial (where Student is your
name)
The Enterprise item in the left frame shows the Navigator view name. You can
now add child items to the new view or copy existing items from the Physical
view.

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Sharing items
Navigator items are shared by selecting them from the source view on the right,
dragging to the target view and dropping on the item they should follow.
1. In the Source View on the right, which shows the Navigator Physical view,
open the Windows Systemsbranch.
If you have no Windows Systems, choose another operating platform: Linux,
UNIX, or z/OS.
2. Select a Navigator item below Windows Systems, such as TIVOLIUSER.
3. Drag and drop it on Coffee.
When you first click the item to drag, a border should appear around the name
and, to drag successfully, your mouse pointer should be inside that border. As

you begin to drag, the mouse pointer changes to .

When positioned over the target item, the pointer changes to and a border
appears around the item.
Notice the over the icon of the original and copied Navigator items:

Coffee Enterprise

TIVOLIUSER Windows Systems

TIVOLIUSER

The white plus sign indicates that the following source Navigator item
designations are also shared with the new Navigator item:
v assigned managed systems
v defined workspaces
v defined links
v associated situations
From then on, changes to one item (such as editing a workspace) are applied to
the other. The indicator reminds you of this shared relationship so you do
not unintentionally change or delete an item from one Navigator view that
might affect another Navigator view.

Creating new items

Now create some new items:
1. Select the Enterprise item in the target view: Coffee.
2. Click Create Child Item.
3. In the window that opens, enter the following:
Name: Floor 1
Description: Contact: Receptionist, Facilities Manager
4. Click OK.
5. Repeat steps 1 to 4, naming the next item Floor 2.
6. Select Floor 1, click Create Child Item, and name the new item Reception.
7. Select a managed system from Available Managed Systems and click Back
to move them to Assigned, then click OK.

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This is the managed system whose situations you want to associate with the
Navigator item. This assignment has no effect on what data the workspace for
this Navigator item can show, only the event indicators for situations. If a
Navigator item has no managed systems assigned, no events will appear for it
(unless it is part of a rollup display of events), and the Situation editor will not
be available from the pop-up menu.

Deleting items
Delete one of the Navigator items:
1. Select the Floor 2item you just created and click Delete Child Item.
2. When a message asks if you are sure, click Yes.
Navigator items are listed in the view in the order in which they are created on
that branch. If you need to move an item to a different location, you must
delete it and create it again where you want it to appear and in the order in
which it should appear.

Renaming items
Rename one of the Navigator items.
1. Right-click Reception and select Properties from the pop-up menu.
2. In the Name field, change the name to Front Desk.
3. Click OK.

Closing the Navigator editor

The Navigator view you just created could be expanded to cover every system
where you want to send a reminder to make coffee. For this exercise, we added
only one managed system. Your Coffee view should look like this:

Coffee

TIVOLIUSER

Floor 1

Front Desk
v Click Close to close the Navigator view editor.

Selecting a Navigator view

1. Click the list box in the Navigator view toolbar.
2. Select Coffee.
Your new Navigator view opens in place of the Navigator Physical view.
3. Click each Navigator item to open its default workspace.
Except for the system Navigator item, the shared items (82) have defined
workspaces and the new items (Coffee, Floor 1, Front Desk) have undefined
workspaces. In the next exercise you will define one of the workspaces.

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Lights, sound, alerts: associating situations

Some items in the Coffee view—the shared items—may have situations associated
with them, with the effect that when the situation becomes true an event indicator
lights up the Navigator item and the items above it.

The Front Desk Navigator item you created and to which you assigned a managed
system can also show event indicators, but only after situations have been
associated with it.
1. In the Coffee Navigator view, right-click the Front Desk item and select
Situations from the pop-up menu.
2. Click Situation Filter to open the Show Situations window.
3. Check Eligible for Association and click OK.
4. Select the TEP_Tutorial situation or another situation if you do not see it in the
list.
5. In the Condition tab, set the State to Informational and turn on the Sound.
6. Right-click the TEP_Tutorial situation or another situation if you do not see it
in the list, then select Associate.
7. Check your work by clicking Situation Filter and clearing Eligible for
Association, then click OK.
The situation you associated will appear in the list, but not situations that have
not been associated with this Navigator item.
8. Click OK to close the Situation editor.
The next time the situation becomes true, an event indicator will appear
over this Navigator item and over its icon in the graphic view in the Coffee
workspace.

Navigator editor

Overview
You can use the Navigator editor to build your own business-oriented views and
workspaces to better manage your business environment.

The Navigator editor enables you to edit the Navigator view and to create new
Navigator views. You can build a hierarchical structure by creating new child items
as branches in the tree and by adding items from a source Navigator view to a
new target view.

The target view always reflects the view that is currently being viewed. If you
have the authority to edit a Navigator view, you automatically have access to all
managed systems in the network, that is, to the structure of your enterprise. All
changes are applied dynamically.

As the administrator, you can build a Navigator view, assign it to yourself, build
workspaces for the view, and define queries for those workspaces.

If your user ID does not have Modify permission for Custom Navigator Views,
you will not be able to open the Navigator editor.

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Assigned Navigator views

A Navigator view you create is assigned to your user ID automatically. It appears
as an available Navigator view for all other user IDs, but is not assigned to them.
You need to assign the Navigator view to each user ID that should have access to
it.

Logical view
If you have a Candle Management Workstation installation, the enterprise and all
its managed objects are converted to a Navigator view called Logical as part of the
migration process during installation.

Building a Navigator view

You can build Navigator views in two ways:
v by sharing items from an existing view
When you share an item from an existing view, all the managed systems,
workspaces, link definitions, situations and policies associated with the source
item are applied to the new items. From then on, the items are shared: changes
to one item (such as adding a new workspace) are applied to the other. A plus
icon appears over the source and target Navigator item icon to indicate a
relationship to another item. This indicator serves as a reminder so that you do
not unintentionally change or delete an item from one view that might affect
another view. (See “Sharing items” on page 82.)
v by creating new items
When you create a new item, called a child item, it has no characteristics other
than the managed systems you assign and the situations associated with these
managed systems. Child items offer a means for grouping items with a certain
relationship, such as all the databases used for sales and inventory. Because a
child item is new to the Navigator view, it will have no workspace defined.

In the Navigator Physical view, an agent that has gone offline is indicated by the
dimming of its branch in the tree. This indication occurs in custom Navigator
views as well. Be aware, however, that if you copy an attribute-level item from the
Navigator Physical view to a custom view without copying its parent agent-level
item, you will receive no indication when the agent goes offline. The attribute item
appears normal but when you open its workspace, the chart or table views do not
contain any information.

Assigning managed systems

You can choose any mix of individual managed systems and managed system lists
for a new Navigator item. The managed system assignments control situation
availability for the Navigator item. For example, a Navigator item with all Oracle
managed systems assigned to it will show alerts from any of those managed
systems, but not from the WebSphere managed systems. Also, if a Navigator item
has no managed system assignments, you will not able to access the Situation
editor from it and event indicators will fail to appear over this item.

Situation editor
The Situation editor is where you compose and distribute a situation to the
systems where it should run. When you create a situation, the Navigator item from
which you opened the Situation editor becomes the situation’s associated managed
system. If a situation already existed when a Navigator item was added, you need
to:

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v open the Situation editor from the Navigator item where you want the alert to
show
v select the situation
v click Apply

Alerts have an automatic roll-up effect. You only need to apply the situation to its
originating Navigator item. All items higher in the Navigator view hierarchy
consolidate alerts and show an event indicator for the alerts below.

Navigator editor
The Navigator editor is where you assign the managed systems to Navigator items
on which alerts can show. Alerts do not automatically show on the Navigator item
for every assigned managed system that has a situation distributed to it. You must
open the Situation editor from the Navigator item where you want to the alert to
show, select the situation, and click Apply.

Creating a new Navigator view

To create a new Navigator view:
1. In the Navigator toolbar, click Edit Navigator View.
The Edit Navigator View window opens with the Navigator Physical view as
the Source View (on the right), and the Logical view or most recently opened
view as the Target View for editing.
2. Click Create New Navigator View.
3. In the window that opens, type a name for the Navigator view and, optionally,
a description, then click OK.
The description shows in a hover message when you move the mouse pointer
over the Navigator view tab at the bottom of the view pane. After you click
OK, the Navigator view name appears as the Enterprise level item in the
left frame.
4. If you want to assign managed systems to the Navigator item, right-click it and
select Properties from the pop-up menu, then assign the managed systems.
If a Navigator item has no managed system assignments, the Situation editor
will be unavailable from the pop-up menu and event indicators will fail to
appear over this item.
5. If you want to use a different source view than the one displaying in the right
frame, use Source View to see and select the view you wish to use.
6. Do any of the following to populate the target Navigator view:
v To share a Navigator item, drag it from the source view on the right to the
target on the left, and drop it on the item that it should follow. After
selecting the first item, you can use Ctrl+click to select other items or
Shift+click to select all items between the first selection and this one.
v To create a new Navigator item, select the parent item and click Create
Child Item.
v To delete a Navigator item, select and click Delete Child Item.
v To rename an item, right-click it and click Properties in the pop-up menu;
to rename the view, click Properties. Edit the name in the Name field and
the description in the Description field.

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v To change the managed system assignments for an item, right-click the item
and select Properties from the pop-up menu. Assign the managed
systems.
7. Click Apply to save your changes to the Navigator view and keep the editor
open, or OK to save your changes and close the editor. The new view appears
in the Navigator view list.
8. If you want the new Navigator view to be available to other users, assign it to
users from the Navigator Views tab.

Editing an existing view

To edit an existing Navigator view:
1. Select the Navigator view you want to edit from the drop-down list in the
Navigator toolbar.
2. Click Edit Navigator View to open the Edit Navigator View window.
3. If the Navigator you want to edit is not displaying as the target, select it from
the Target View list. You can also select a different source from the Source View
list.
4. Do any of the following to edit the Navigator view:
v To share a Navigator item, drag it from the source view on the right to the
target on the left, and drop it on the item that it should follow. After
selecting the first item, you can use Ctrl+click to select other items or
Shift+click to select all items between the first selection and this one.
v To create a new Navigator item, select the parent item and click Create
Child Item.
v To delete a Navigator item, select and click Delete Child Item.
v To rename an item, right-click it and click Properties in the pop-up menu;
to rename the view, click Properties. Edit the name in the Name field and
the description in the Description field.
v To change the managed system assignments for an item, right-click the item
and select Properties from the pop-up menu. Assign the managed
systems.
5. When you are finished, click Apply to save your changes to the Navigator
view and keep the editor open, or click OK to save your changes and close the
editor.
If you plan to edit more than one view while the Navigator editor is open, click
Apply to save your changes to the first view before editing the next.

Note: Apply Pending Updates appears in the Navigator toolbar after you
have edited the view in the Navigator editor.

Adding a child item

To add a child item:
1. In the Navigator toolbar, click Edit Navigator View to open the Edit
Navigator View window.
2. If the Navigator view you want to work with is not displaying, select it from
the Target View list.
3. Select the parent item in the target view.

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4. Click Create Child Item.

5. In the window that opens, enter a name and description for the item.
The name will appear in the Navigator view; the description only in this
window.
6. Select the managed systems or managed systems lists whose situations you
want to associate with the Navigator item, and click to move them to the
Assigned list.
The Assigned list is an event filter. If you have no managed systems assigned
to this Navigator item, no events will appear for it unless they are part of a
roll-up display of events. The Assigned list has no effect on the availability of
queries for the workspace, only the event indicators for situations.
7. Click OK. The child item appears within the parent item hierarchy, below any
other child items.

Deleting a view or item

To delete a Navigator view or a Navigator item:
1. Click Edit Navigator View to open the Edit Navigator View window.
2. If the Navigator view you want to delete or whose item you want to delete is
not displaying as the target, select it from the Target View list.
3. Do one of the following:
v To delete the Navigator view, click Delete Navigator View.
v To delete an item, select its parent item and click Delete Child Item.
Notes:
1. If you delete the current Navigator view (the one showing when you opened
the Navigator editor), Apply Pending Updates is enabled in the Navigator
view toolbar. Click it to remove the deleted Navigator view and open the next
Navigator view.
2. You can remove a managed system that has gone offline from the Navigator:
Open the Enterprise workspace in the Navigator Physical view. Right-click the
Enterprise Navigator item and click Workspace > Managed System Status. In
the Managed System Status view, right-click the *OFFLINE managed system
row and select Clear offline entry from the pop-up menu. Click Apply
Pending Updates in the Navigator view toolbar.

Expanding the Navigator in increments

You may sometimes see More indicators in the Navigator. These indicators keep
the tree compact so you can see more in the viewable area without having to
scroll. Click More to open that branch of the tree.

The first time you click Expand on a Navigator branch of more than, by
default, 25 child items, you are prompted to enter the number to expand at one
time.

Setting the number of items to expand

1. If the Expand child items window is not open, right-click the Navigator item
whose child items you want to expand incrementally and click Expand.
2. Enter the number to expand and click OK to open that number of child items.

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3. Click More when you want to open the next group of child items.

Expanding child items

You can expand all the child items of a Navigator item. The entire branch does not
expand, just the children of the selected item.

If the Expand child items window is not open, right-click the Navigator item
whose child items you want to expand and click Expand Child Items.

Logical and custom Navigator views

A custom Navigator view can be designed to show the same managed system
more than once. If you have a managed system repeated somewhere else in the
Navigator view, when you use the expand feature on one Navigator item for that
managed system, any other items for that managed system will expand at the
same time.

Conclusion
This chapter covered the custom Navigator features and the Expand capability. You
can tailor Navigator views for any aspect of your business and for every type of
user.

The Navigator views you create are initially assigned only to your user ID. The
Administer Users window has a Navigator Views tab for assigning Navigator
views to the selected user ID, so users see only the views you want them to see.
See IBM Tivoli Monitoring Administrator’s Guide or the online help for details.

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Chapter 8. Situation event views: message log, situation event

console, and graphic
Just as the Navigator indicates when situations become true, so too can the event
views. This chapter describes the event views that report the status of
situations—message log and situation event console—and the graphic view, which
has the same Critical, Warning, and Informational indicators and event
response capabilities as the Navigator.

When you have the Tivoli Enterprise Console product installed, another view is
available for showing an even wider range of events: the Tivoli Enterprise Console
event viewer. See Chapter 9, “Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer,” on page 107
for details.

Overview
In Lesson: Responding to alerts in Chapter Chapter 4, “Monitoring: real-time and
event-based,” you learned about how lights turn on in the Navigator to alert you
of situation events. Along with the Navigator view, there are workspace views
available to help you keep track of these events.

The message log and situation event console views update automatically to show
new situation events as they arrive and changes in status as they occur. The
graphic view gives you a pictorial alternative to the Navigator for indicating alerts.

Figure 13. Workspace with situation event console and message log views

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Message log view

Message Log view shows the status of the situations on your managed
network. Every status change is logged in a separate row of this table, such as
when an acknowledgement has expired while the situation is still true.

Situation event console view

Situation Event Console view shows the status of all situations associated with
Navigator items on this branch of the Navigator view, and has tools for instant
filtering and a pop-up menu for event handling.

This view has some columns not available on the message log view: Impact and
Age.

Graphic view
Graphic Viewview enables you to add a background image and cover it with
icons. The icons represent each item on the branch of the current Navigator item,
including any event indicators. This view graphically shows what you would see
in the Navigator, including the item name and any event indicators associated with
it. You can also define a link from any of the icons to another workspace.

For example, you may want a graphic view showing your company’s floor plan or
organization chart, and zoom in for more detail. When you add a Graphic view to
a workspace, you select a background image, and then place icons (Navigator
items) onto the Graphic view. You can customize the view using the Graphic view
style sheets.

Message log view

The message log gives you an overview of changes in situation status on your
monitored network. The view displays a row of data for each status change,
placing newly arrived rows at the top.

To create a new view and edit its properties, your user ID requires Workspace
Author Mode permission. For the message log view, your user ID also requires
View permission for Events.

Adding a message log view

To add a message log view to a workspace:
1. Open the workspace to which you want to add the view.
2. If the view should occupy a new space, click Split Vertically or Split
Horizontally in one of the views.
3. Click Message Log.
4. Point and click inside the view where you want the message log.
The mouse pointer shape changes to a hand as you move inside the
workspace. Once you click, the old view is replaced by the message log.
Notes:
1. The message log reports the status of all situations on your monitored network,
up to 500 rows. See “Message log properties” on page 94 to filter out unwanted
data.

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2. The Filters, Thresholds, and Style features available to the Table view can also
be used in the message log view.

What the view shows

Status The status for the situation:

Acknowledged: The event has been

acknowledged.

Deleted: The situation has been deleted.

Problem: The situation is in a problem state.

Expired: The acknowledgement of the event has

expired while the event remains open.

Opened: The situation is running and is now

true, which opens an event.

Closed: The situation is running, was true and

is now false.

Reopened: The acknowledgement was removed

before it had expired and the event is still open
(reopened).

Started: The situation is being started.

Stopped: The situation has been stopped.

Situation Name The name of the situation or policy.
Display Item If the situation was defined with a display item, it
appears here. Otherwise, this field is empty.
Origin Node The name of the agent and system where the
situation is running.
Global Timestamp The time at the monitoring server (the one to
which the agent connects) when the situation
status changed.
Local Timestamp The time at the portal client when the situation
status changed.
Node The name of the monitoring server from where the
situation is monitored.
Type The type of event. The possible values are:
v Sampled for events that happen when a
situation becomes true. Situations sample data at
regular intervals. When the situation is true, it
causes an event, which gets closed automatically
when the situation goes back to false (or you can
close the event manually).
v Pure for events that are unsolicited notifications.
Examples of pure events are an out-of-paper
condition on a printer and an occurrence that
adds an entry to a log. Some monitoring agents

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have attributes that report pure events, such as

the Windows Event Log and Windows File
Change attribute groups. A situation using one
of these attributes can monitor for pure events.
Because of the nature of pure events, they are
not closed automatically like sampled events;
you must close the event manually. Alternatively,
you can author the situation with an UNTIL
clause.

Apply quick settings

A row is added to the view when the situation fires or is closed. As new rows
arrive, they appear in descending order with the oldest rows at the bottom. After
the maximum number of rows has been reached, the oldest are removed to make
room for new rows.

Use the quick settings to set a row limit, to filter out unwanted rows, and to
highlight specific cell values.

Set a row limit

1. Right-click anywhere in the message log view.
2. In the pop-up menu, point to Set Max Rows, then select 50, 100 or 500 from the
list.
After the maximum is reached, the oldest row is removed. The view refreshes
every time a new event arrives, so the more rows you allow in the view the
more time the refresh takes.

Set or remove a quick filter

1. Right-click the cell on whose value you want to filter the incoming data.
2. In the pop-up menu, select Set Quick Filter, then select the attribute
(attribute name == value). If you want to remove all quick filters applied to
this view, select Remove Quick Filters.
You can add a quick filter to other cells to further refine the filtering. For
example, you set quick filters to show only the ETE_eBA_Response_Critical
situation when it has been raised.

Set or remove a quick threshold

1. Right-click the cell on whose value you want to apply a threshold indicator.
2. In the pop-up menu, click Set Quick Threshold, then select the severity to
apply to that value (attribute name == value); -OR- if you want to remove all
quick thresholds applied to the view, select Remove Quick Thresholds.

Tip:: If you edit the properties for this view, you can make the quick filter or
quick threshold permanent by right-clicking the row number and
selecting Remove Quick Flag in the Filters or Thresholds tab.

Message log properties

The properties for the message log view have Filters, Thresholds and Style tabs.
You can set a filter so only certain status types or systems are reported, set
thresholds to highlight values outside the limits in red or yellow, and define the
appearance of this view.
1. Right-click anywhere in the message log view.

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2. Select Properties from the pop-up menu.

3. Set Filters, described in “Filter the table” on page 48, to report only the
values or value ranges you specify.
If you set a quick filter, it will appear here and the row will be marked with
the Quick flag icon. You can make it a permanent filter by right-clicking the
row number and selecting Remove Quick Flag.
For example, you may want to add a message log view to the Windows
Systems workspace that shows situation activity on the most critical systems.
You could add filters to include only those systems.
4. Set Thresholds, described in “Add column thresholds” on page 49, to highlight
areas of interest.
If you set a quick threshold, it will appear here and the row will be marked
with the Quick flag icon. You can make it a permanent threshold by
right-clicking the row number and selecting Remove Quick Threshold.
5. Add a header or a footer in the Style tab.
6. When you are finished editing the message log properties, save your changes
by clicking Apply to keep the Properties editor open, or OK to close the editor.
7. To save your changes to the workspace, click Save.

Situation event console view

Overview
The situation event console view is similar to the message log view, but has more
event response and display features.

To create a new view and edit its properties, your user ID requires Workspace
Author Mode permission. To create a situation event console view, your user ID
also requires View permission for Events.

Create a situation event console view

1. Open the workspace to which you want to add the view.
2. If the view should occupy a new space, click Split Vertically or Split
Horizontally in one of the views.

3. Click Situation Event Console .

4. Point and click inside the view where you want the situation event console.
5. Use any of the tools to limit or to expand the rows to show only the events you
are most interested in:

Filter Critical Shows only Critical events

Filter Warning Shows only Warning events

Filter Informational Shows only Information events

Filter Open Shows Open events only, including any that

were reopened (acknowledgement removed) or
whose acknowledgement expired

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Filter Acknowledged Shows Acknowledged events only.

Filter Stopped Shows Stopped situations only.

Filter Problem Shows Problem situations only. These are

situations that are in error for some reason.

Console Pause Console Resume

The situation event console gets updated as
status changes occur. Use this tool to pause
automatic refresh, and click again to resume.

6. To save the event console view, click Save to save the view with this
workspace; or click File > Save Workspace As to save a new workspace.
The old workspace remains as it was before you added this view.
Notes:
1. The view refreshes automatically, adding a row for every status change of the
situations associated with this Navigator item and any items below it on the
same branch. If you see no rows it means no events have be opened for any
situations associated with this Navigator item.
2. The Filters, Thresholds, and Style features available to the Table view can also
be used in the situation event console view.

What the view shows

The Navigator alerts you when a situation becomes true by overlaying the
Navigator item with an event indicator. Multiple alerts for the same Navigator
item are consolidated under one event indicator, so you might not be aware of
newly arrived alerts just by looking at the indicator. The event console view shows
you the event activity for situations associated with the current Navigator item and
any items within the branch.

Console Resume
If you begin to scroll the view or expand pure events, automatic
refresh turns off and this indicator appears at the top left corner of
the list. Click Console Resume when you want to resume
automatic refresh.
Pure Event This icon in the first column indicates the event is a pure event.
Consecutive pure events are consolidated: click to expand the
list to show a row for each pure event; click to collapse the list
back to one row. If the list does not expand, it means there is only
one pure event.
Status The status of the event, including an icon indicating the state (
Warning, Informational):
Critical,
Open
Expired overlays the state icon when the acknowledgement has
expired while the event is still open.
Reopened overlays the state icon when the acknowledgement
was removed before it had expired while the event is still open.

Acknowledge
The event has been acknowledged.

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Stopped
A user stopped the situation. It will not begin running again until
someone starts it or edits it in the Situation editor.
Deleted
The situation was deleted through the Situation editor.
If you have an active Candle Management Workstation installation,
the situation could have been deleted through the Situations folder.

Problem
The situation is not functioning properly. One reason may be that
the agent to which it is distributed is offline.
Situation Name
The name of the situation or policy.
Display Item If the situation was defined with a display item, it appears here.
Otherwise, this field is empty.
Source The name of the agent and system where the situation is running.
Impact The name of the Navigator item where the event indicator
originated; when you click , the entire branch opens.
Opened This is the local time at the agent location when the event was last
opened.
Age This is the time interval that has passed since the event was
opened.
If you apply a Filter or Threshold to this column, enter the number
of minutes. After you click outside the cell, you will see the value
converted to days, hours and minutes. For example, an entry of
1450 becomes 1 Day, 10 Minutes.
Local Timestamp
The time at the monitoring server (the one to which the agent
connects) when the situation status changed.
Note Additional information about the event, usually the event type.
v Sampled. See 232.
v Pure. See “pure event” on page 232.

Apply filters and thresholds

You can adjust the event list to show only those events with a certain state or
status, attribute or attribute value, or those associated with another Navigator item.
You can also limit or expand the maximum number of rows that can show on the
console, and you can apply thresholds to cells. Tools are provided for the most
common filters—state and status—so you can quickly toggle a filter on or off.

State
All states are shown in the event list. To filter the list to show one or two states
instead of all three:
1. Click filter the view to show only events with that state.
2. Click the tool again to remove the filter.

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Status
All status types are shown in the event list, and you can filter the list to show only
a certain status:
1. Click Filter Open, Filter Acknowledged, Filter Stopped, or Filter
Problem to filter on one or more of these statuses.
2. Click the tool again to remove the filter.

Column
The toolbar enables you to filter the list by state or status. Through the pop-up
menu, you can filter on any column and even multiple columns. For example, you
can filter to show only when an event has been opened for
Situation_Response_Critical.
1. Right-click the cell on whose value you want to filter the incoming data.
2. In the pop-up menu point to Set Quick Filter, then select the attribute
(attribute name == value); -OR- if you want to remove a quick filter, either
select Remove Quick Filter to remove the last filter applied or point to
Remove Quick Filter Predicate and select the filter to remove.

Navigator item
Initially, the situation event console shows events for the situations associated with
the current Navigator item. You can change the view to show the event list for a
different Navigator item:
1. Point to the Navigator item whose events you want to see.
2. Hold down the Ctrl key while dragging the Navigator item into the view.
3. When the pointer is over one of the rows, release the mouse button.

Number of rows
A row is added to the table when a change to the event status occurs. As new
rows arrive, they appear in descending order with the oldest rows at the bottom.
After the maximum is reached—100 is the default—the oldest row is removed as
each new row arrives. The view refreshes every time a new row arrives, so the
more rows you allow in the view the longer the refresh takes. To change the
maximum:
1. Right-click anywhere in the situation event console view.
2. In the pop-up menu, point to Set Max Rows, then select 50, 100 or 500 from the
list.

Quick threshold
Use the quick settings to highlight cell values that fall outside the threshold:
1. Right-click the cell on whose value you want to apply a threshold indicator.
2. In the pop-up menu point to Set Quick Threshold, then select the severity to
apply to that value (attribute name == value); -OR- if you want to remove all
quick thresholds applied to the view, select Remove Quick Thresholds.

Tip:: If you edit the properties for this view, you can make the quick filter or
quick threshold permanent by right-clicking the row number and
selecting Remove Quick Flag in the Filters or Thresholds tab.

Situation event console properties

The properties for the situation event console are the same as for any table view,
except you have no Query tab.
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1. Right-click anywhere in the situation event console view.

2. Select Properties from the pop-up menu.
3. Set Filters, described in “Filter the table” on page 48, to report only the
values or value ranges you specify.
If you set a quick filter, it will appear here and the row will be marked with
the Quick flag icon. You can make it a permanent filter by right-clicking the
row number and selecting Remove Quick Flag.
4. Set Thresholds, described in “Add column thresholds” on page 49, to highlight
areas of interest.
If you have set a quick threshold, it will appear here and the row will be
marked with . You can make it a permanent threshold by right-clicking the
row number and selecting Remove Quick Flag.
5. Add a header or a footer in the Style tab.
6. When you are finished editing the situation event console properties, save your
changes by clicking Apply to keep the Properties editor open, or OK to close
the editor.
7. To save your changes to the workspace, click Save.

Graphic View

Overview
The graphic view enables you to create a canvas that is covered with icons
representing the Navigator items, including any event indicators. You might create,
for example, a graphic view showing your company’s floor plan or organization
chart.

To create a new view and edit its properties, your user ID requires Workspace
Author Mode permission.

Create a graphic view

1. Open the workspace to which you want to add the view.
2. If the view should occupy a new space, click Split Vertically or Split
Horizontally in one of the views.

3. Click Graphic View.

4. Point and click inside the view where you want the graphic view.
The old view is replaced by the graphic view with a default background image
and overlaid with icons for the Navigator items on this branch.
5. Click Select to enable selection, then drag the icons into position. Use this
and other graphic view tools to manipulate the view. See Graphic view toolbar.
6. To change the background image or the style of the icons or their labels, edit
the graphic view properties. See “Graphic Style properties” on page 101.
7. To add other Navigator items to the view, drag them from the Navigator view
and onto the graphic view.
You can drag items one at a time or use Ctrl+click to select multiple items, then
drag them as a group. Be careful to drag and not click, which selects and opens
the workspace for that Navigator item.

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Tip:: If a new item appears on the Navigator after you created the graphic
view, you can add it at any time dragging its name from the Navigator
view to the graphic view. If an item gets removed from the Navigator
after you created the graphic view, you can remove its icon by selecting it
and then deleting it.

Graphic view toolbar

Table 2. Graphic View Toolbar
Tool Description

Reload Stylesheets Resets the view; refreshes the icon style. This is useful if the
icons change state or move around.

Actual Size Displays graphics at 100%. Suitable for raster images such as
.eps, .jpeg and .png files. Not applicable to map files and is
disabled when a map background displays. If you clicked
Fit to Contents, Actual Size returns the background
graphic and icons to their original size.

Fit to Contents Rescales the view so all icons are visible. This is useful if you
have added or removed icons.

Zoom in Zoom in on the view to see an enlarged version.

Zoom out Zoom the view out to a smaller size.

Zoom Box Select an area to zoom into and the view will expand or
contract to fit.

Pan Pan the image including background and icons.

Overview Open the overview window. The Overview window has a box,
which you can grab and move to pan the image.

Select This is a toggle tool: click it again to turn off selection. Use
this tool to drag a icon into position or to select it for removal.
You can click and drag from one point to the opposite corner
to select a group of icons, or use Shift+Click to select multiple
icons individually.

Delete Remove the icons that were highlighted with the Select tool.

Grid This is a toggle tool: click it again to turn off the grid. It is
especially useful as a guide for positioning icons on an even
plane.

Undo Undo the last action.

Redo Redo the last action.

Snapshot Take a snapshot photo of the contents of the pane and display
it in a separate pop-up window. You can also save the
snapshot as a .PNG file by clicking Export in the
lower-right corner of the snapshot view. See “Create custom
icons” on page 103.

Print Print the active view.

Snapshot tool
You can use Snapshot to create image backgrounds. To create an image
background with this tool:

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1. Lay out a workspace with the views placed and sized as desired.
2. Add a graphic view to one of the view spaces.
3. Use the Select and the Clear tools to delete any icons that are placed on
the background.
4. Select an area of the images you want to enlarge and click Zoom Box.
5. Change the size and shape of the view as needed.
The image should be scaled to the approximate full size you intend to use.
Once the image is captured by the Snapshot tool, it cannot be scaled.
6. Click Snapshot to capture the image.
7. In the lower-right corner of the Snapshot window, click Export as PNG.
8. Save the file with a .png extension on the system where your portal server is
installed in this folder:
<itm_installdir>\cnb\classes\candle\fw\resources\backgrounds\user
9. To replace the default image from Tivoli, save the image as default.png.

Tip:: You can also use the Snapshot tool to create white space to frame an
actual size image that is not big enough to fill its pane. You can do this
by displaying the image at actual size and then using Pan to move it
around in the view. When it looks right, follow the above procedure to
capture the framed image.

Graphic Style properties

The graphic view consists of a header or footer, a background

map or image, and icons. You can edit the style properties to control their
appearance.
1. Right-click anywhere in the graphic view.
2. Select Properties from the pop-up menu.
3. In the Style tab, click the area of the thumbnail graphic you want to work
with: Plot area, Header or Footer.
If the graphic view is showing behind the window, you can click Apply while
you edit to see your changes in the actual view.
4. When you are finished editing the graphic view properties, save them by
clicking Apply, or OK to save the changes and close the window.
Plot Area Click the center of the thumbnail graphic to open
the Background tab.
Background
Map to specify a georeferenced map as the
background.
Image to specify a background image of type
PNG, JPG or GIF. Click Browse to open a list of
images from which to choose or select <blank
background> for no background image.

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Fit to view, when selected, automatically resizes

the image to fit in the view space. If you adjust the
borders of the workspace or graphic view, the
image shrinks or expands to fit. This option is
selected and disabled when Map is selected;
cleared and enabled when Image is selected. If you
leave it cleared, your image will retain its original
sizing no matter what the size of the view.
Browse looks for maps on the portal server in one
of the following directories:
<itm_installdir>\cnb\classes\candle\fw\resources\maps
<itm_installdir>\cnb\classes\candle\fw\resources\maps\user

and non-maps in
<itm_installdir>\cnb\classes\candle\fw\resources\backgrounds
<itm_installdir>\cnb\classes\candle\fw\resources\
backgrounds\user

Style

The style sheet determines which icons to display

for Navigator items and the format and positioning
of their text labels. To change from the default,
click Browse and select from a list of the available
style sheets. See the graphic view in the online
help for a graphical table of the available styles
Header Click Header on the thumbnail graphic to open the
Header tab.
Header
Show Header displays the header text at the top
of the view.
Show Border draws an outline around the
header text.
Text shows the view title and is where you can edit
the font styling.
Footer Click Footer on the thumbnail graphic to open the
Footer tab.
Footer
Show Footer displays the text at the bottom of
the chart.
Text shows the footer text and is where you can
edit the font styling.

Create a custom background image

You can use your own non-georeferenced images for the graphic view background.
These types of graphics are supported: PNG, JPG, and GIF.
1. Create your background image in a graphical editor and save as a PNG, JPG or
GIF file.
2. Copy the image to this directory on the portal server system:
<itm_installdir>\cnb\classes\candle\fw\resources\backgrounds\user

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3. After adding the graphic view to a workspace, right-click anywhere in the

graphic view and select Properties from the pop-up menu.
4. Click the middle of the thumbnail graphic.
5. Select Image.
6. If you want the image to shrink or expand to fit the full view space, select
Fit to view.
If you leave this option disabled, the image will retain its original size; if it is
larger than the view space, scroll bars will appear; if it is smaller than the view
space, it will be placed at the top left corner with white space fill-in.
7. Click Browse and select the image you added in step 1 from the list.
Browse looks for the image in the backgrounds and backgrounds\user folders.
8. Click Apply if you can see the graphic view is showing behind the window
and want to see how your image will look in the view space.

Create custom icons

The portal interface uses various icons to represent the different levels and items in
the Navigator. Those same icons are applied to the background image in the
graphic view. You can change the size of the icons and the labels by selecting the
view’s style sheet. You can also create your own icons to substitute any or all of
the provided icons for graphic view. For example, you might want to use your
company logo instead of to represent the Enterprise. The basic steps are:

A. Create icon images

B. Create a style sheet

C. Apply new style sheet

After creating the icon images, you need to copy one of the Tivoli Enterprise Portal
style sheets and edit it to reference your images, then update the graphic view
style properties to use the new style sheet. The new style sheet and icons must be
saved on the system where the integral web server and browser client are installed,
typically the same system as the portal server.

A. Create icon images

1. Create .GIF or .JPG image file for each Navigator item whose icon you want in
the graphic view.
GIFs can have transparent backgrounds and can be animated.
If the graphic is an irregular (non-linear) shape and the background color
different from that of the background image, set a transparent background and
save the image in .GIF format.
Create icons as close to 32 x 32 pixels (large_icon_) or 20 x 20 pixels (small
icon_) as possible. An image greater or smaller will be resized to those
dimensions automatically and may look distorted. Also, the image will retain
proper proportions only if it is the same height and width. For example, if your
original icon is 76 x 54, resize it to fit 32 x 32 if you will be using one of the
large icon style sheets.
2. Copy the icon images to:
<itm_installdir>\cnb\classes\candle\fw\resources\icons\user

B. Create a style sheet

1. Change to the Navigator view whose graphic view icons you plan to change.

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Having the Navigator open while you type the item names in the style sheet
(step 4) ensures their correct spelling and letter casing.
2. Identify the Tivoli style sheet most like the one you want. It must be one of the
large_icon_ or small_icon_ style sheets (not shape_ or parent_).
The style sheet controls the color, size and position of the text labels (Navigator
item names), as well as any icons you do not replace with custom icons.
3. Make a copy of the style sheet in:
<itm_installdir>\cnb\classes\candle\fw\resources\styles
giving it a name that identifies it as one you customized, and place it in the
child folder:
<itm_installdir>\cnb\classes\candle\fw\resources\styles\user
4. Open your new style sheet in a text editor such as Notepad.
5. Edit the @import lines at the top of the file to insert ../ in front of the $ dollar
sign, such as:
@import "../$base.css";
@import "../$baseLargeIcon.ss";
@import "../$baseNodeLabelBottom.css";
6. Copy and paste the following entry at the end of the file, one line for each
Navigator item whose graphic view icon you want to change.
node[name = "Your Item Name Here"]{iconImage: url(../../icons/user/icon.eps);}
7. Replace Your Item Name Here with the exact name of the Navigator item;
replace iconname.eps with the exact name of the icon graphic file.
Be careful to follow the syntax exactly. Any errors, such as missing or extra
parentheses, quotes, or misspellings will give unpredictable results. The
symptom might be that your style sheet change did not affect the graphic view
or the view contents disappear.
8. Save the text file.

C. Apply new style sheet

1. Open the workspace with the graphic view to which you want to apply your
style sheet.
2. Right-click the graphic view and select Properties from the pop-up menu.
3. Click the plot area of the thumbnail graphic.
4. Adjust the Background settings as needed.
5. In the Style field, click Browse, select the custom style sheet from the Select
Name list and click OK.
Your style sheets will appear as user/style at the end of the list. If you do not
see your style sheet in the list, check that you saved it in the right directory
and that you did not start the name with $. Also, make sure you added a style
entry to $_index.txt and that you spelled it correctly.
You can drag the border between Preview and Style to make the preview
image larger.
6. When you are finished editing the graphic view properties, click Apply, or
click OK to close the window.

Note: When you erase the background image (no image selected) or use a
non-map background, you need to save the workspace, switch to another
workspace, then return to it to see the correct icon sizes. This is required
whenever the image sizes do not scale as you expect.

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Tip:: Once you have created a user style sheet and associated with a graphic
view, you can make further changes with a text editor and see the effect
without reopening the graphic view Properties window. To do so, save
the changed file, click Reload Stylesheet to refresh the style sheet and to
see the new icons.

Change the default graphic or style sheet

When you drop a new graphic view onto the workspace, the background map that
displays is the default image. The default image provided with Tivoli Enterprise
Portal is a map of the world. The style of the icons overlaying the graphic is also
the default. You can change the graphic and the styling through the Properties
editor Style tab. If you would prefer to use your own graphic as the default image,
you can make it the default.

The same applies if you have a style sheet you would prefer to be the default.

Note: The graphic view images and styles directories reside on the browser client
where the integral web server is installed, which is normally on the same
system as the portal server.

Default map graphic

1. Delete (or move to another directory) the original default.eps from:
<itm_installdir>\cnb\classes\candle\fw\resources\backgrounds
2. Select another graphic you want to be the default and copy it to the same
directory.
3. Name it default.eps. The image should be scaled beforehand to the
approximate full size you intend to use.

Note: You must use a non-georeferenced jpeg image with a .JPG file extension
as the default background.

Default style sheet

If you have a style sheet you would prefer to use as the default, you can make it
the default style sheet. To change the default style sheet:
1. Delete (or move to another directory) the original default.css stylesheet from:
<itm_installdir>\cnb\classes\candle\fw\resources\styles
All users connecting to this portal server will get this default style sheet
whenever they create a new graphic view.
2. Copy the new default.css back to the same location.

Linking from a graphic view

You can define a link from a graphic view icon. Because these icons represent
Navigator items, the link is much like those originating from a workspace. The
only difference is the link source is a graphic view instead of a Navigator item.

For you to define a link, your user ID requires Workspace Author Mode
permission.
1. Open the workspace containing the graphic view.
2. Right-click the icon from where you want to link.
3. Click Link > Link Wizard from the pop-up menu.
4. Select Define New Link, then click Next.

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5. Type a Name and Description, then click Next.

6. Select the Navigator item whose workspace you want to open.
7. If the Workspaces area shows multiple workspaces, select the one to open.
You can also set the target method to Relative, but we recommend Absolute
for links from the graphic view. An absolute link remembers the system name
of the chosen target and goes only there, whereas a relative link will be
available from the same item type at the same level of the Navigator. Also,
with a relative link, you may be prompted to select a target if more than one
workspace fits the link definition.
8. Click Finish.
A link anchor appears with the Navigator item icon in the graphic view.
9. If you want to change the link anchor properties, see “Add or edit a link
anchor” on page 79.
10. Click Save to save the link definition.
The link is saved with the workspace.

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Chapter 9. Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer

If your environment includes the Tivoli Enterprise Console product, you can add
the Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer to any workspace in the Tivoli
Enterprise Portal to provide an integrated view of events.

For comprehensive event management, you can also configure one or more
monitoring servers to forward situation events to the event server, and install the
event synchronization component on the event server so that operator actions and
updates based on Tivoli Enterprise Console rules are sent back to the monitoring
server. The updated status of the events is reflected in both the situation event
views and in the Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer.

Here is a picture of the Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer with Tivoli
Enterprise Console events and situation events that were forwarded from the
monitoring server. The columns in this view correspond to the base attributes of
Tivoli Enterprise Console events and those of situation events.

Figure 14. Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer

With event synchronization configured, you can add the Tivoli Enterprise Console
event viewer to a workspace and perform the same operator tasks, such as
acknowledging an event and closing an event, as you can in the event console of
the Tivoli Enterprise Console product. However, you must use the Java version of
the event console in the Tivoli Enterprise Console product to perform configuration
tasks, such as creating an event group or creating an event group filter. Also, you
can run IBM Tivoli Monitoring actions on an event in the situation event views,
and you can only run Tivoli Enterprise Console tasks on an event in the Tivoli
Enterprise Console event viewer.

See the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Installation and Setup Guide to install and configure
event synchronization.

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See the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Administrator’s Guide to define the characteristics and
behavior of events and situation events sent to the Tivoli Enterprise Console.

Adding the Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer to the workspace

Add the Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer to a workspace just as you would
any other view type.

Configuring the Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer

Use the following steps to add and configure the Tivoli Enterprise Console event
viewer in the current workspace:
1. Open the workspace where you want to add the view.
2. If the view should occupy a new space, click split vertically or split
horizontally in one of the views.

3. Click Tivoli Enterprise Console.

4. Click inside the view where you want the Tivoli Enterprise Console event
viewer.
5. If the Tivoli Enterprise Console Login window opens, configure the event
viewer for your Tivoli Enterprise Console host server:
a. Host is host_computer_name:94 (default port number or change to the
number used in your network configuration).
b. Name is your Tivoli Management Framework login ID.
c. Password is your Tivoli Management Framework login password.
6. Click OK.
Your user ID is sent to the managed host for authentication. When the login is
successful, you can add other Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewers to this or
other workspaces without having to log in to the console during this Tivoli
Enterprise Portal work session.
Event group content is needed for events to be retrieved and displayed in the
view. If a filter has not been specified, the Tivoli Enterprise Console Configure
window opens.
7. If the Tivoli Enterprise Console - Configure window opens, select the Filter
Type and Filter Name. (See Table 3 on page 109)

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Table 3. Event filter options in the Tivoli Enterprise Console - Configuration window
Dynamic Filter Event Group
With dynamic filtering, events are retrieved With event group filtering, you access the
from the managed systems that are assigned console your user ID is assigned to. If you
to the current Navigator item and any items logged on to the Tivoli Enterprise Console
below it on the same branch. If there are no host with an operator ID, choose Event Group
managed systems assigned to this branch of for the Filter Type.
the Navigator view, this option is disabled.
If you logged on to the Tivoli Enterprise
Both Tivoli Enterprise Console administrators Console host with an administrator ID, all
and operators can utilize dynamic filtering if user consoles are available and will be
event synchronization has been installed and displayed in the Filter Type field as
configured on your event server. If not, select <Console ID> Event Group. After selecting a
Event Group as the filter type. console, you will see a list of console Event
Groups to choose from. Select the event
Select one of the following for the filtering group from the Filter Name list.
method:

IP Address issues a dynamic query based on

IP address.

Hostname issues a dynamic query based on

host name.

Managed System issues a dynamic query

based on managed system name.

Dynamic queries base the filtering on the IP addresses, host names, or managed
system names associated with the Navigator item and those branching from it. In
this example, the Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer was added to a Windows
Systems workspace. Events will be retrieved for System4, System5, and System6;
and not for System1, System2, or System3:

Enterprise

Linux Systems

System1

System2

System3

Windows Systems

System4

System5

System6

If the event viewer had been added to the Enterprise item workspace, events for
all six systems would be retrieved .

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What to do if the view is disabled

If you are running Tivoli Enterprise Portal in browser mode and log out of the
portal server, either intentionally or unintentionally, contact between Tivoli
Enterprise Console and the Tivoli Management Framework is lost. No new events
will be added to the view even if you log out and log in again. You must recycle
(close the application, then start it again) the browser before logging in again to the
portal server before the Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer can resume event
reporting.

What the view shows

The view has tools for working with events and filtering them. It also has a
pop-up menu for actions to take on the selected row. When a window is displayed
you can click Help to access the full Tivoli Enterprise Console help system.

Toolbars
Preferences This tool opens the Preferences window. The changes you make are
for your user ID and affect this and all new Tivoli Enterprise
Console event viewers. General preferences set the refresh rate for
displaying new events, the age of closed events to display, and the
number of events to display. The Working Queue/All Events
preferences determine the column sort order in the Working Queue
and All Events queue. Severity Colors preferences determine
whether or not hover and column highlighting are activated, and
what colors to use for event severity.

Create New Automated Tasks

This tool opens a window for configuring automated tasks, which
run when a particular event is received by the event console. For
example, you can configure an automated task to send an e-mail
message to an administrator when an event matching the criteria
you defined ahead of time is received by the event console.
When an automated task completes, it issues information about its
success or failure, and any results created by the task. An icon is
displayed in the Task Completion column of the Event Viewer
when an automated task completes. You can double-click this icon
to view the task results. This icon also is displayed for rule-based
tasks that have completed.Automated task results are written to a
text file, which is configured in the Console Properties editor for
each console.

Reload Events
This tool is used to refresh the view. A query is sent to the event
database and the results are displayed in the view.

Open Automated Task

Use this tool to open the Automated Task window for viewing,
editing, creating, and deleting automated tasks.

Hide Severity
These tools show the number of events for each severity and
enable you to filter out Unknown, Harmless, Warning, Minor,
Critical, or Fatal events or any combination thereof. The example

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here shows that Harmless events have been excluded and the
number received is 0. These are toggle tools: click again to resume
display of that event severity.

Hide Status
These tools filter events by their status: Open, Response,
Acknowledged, and Closed. These are toggle tools: click again to
resume display of events of that status.

Hide Operators’
These tools hide the events for your user ID or those of all other
operators signed on to the event server. These are toggle tools:
click again to resume display of the events for your user ID or
other operators.

Task Completion
An automated task runs when a particular event is received by the
event console. For example, you can configure an automated task
to send an e-mail message to an administrator when an event
matching the criteria you define is received by the event console.
Automated tasks are configured using the Automated Tasks menu.
When an automated task completes, it issues information about its
success or failure, and any results created by the task. The
task-completion icon is displayed in the first column of the Event
Viewer when an automated task completes. You can double-click
this icon to view automated task results.

Event view rows

Each event received by the Tivoli Enterprise Console adds a row to the view with
summary information. When you select an event (or multiple events with
Ctrl+click or Shift+click), you can right-click to get a pop-up menu of options. The
buttons are also enabled.

You can get more value from Tivoli Monitoring Services and Tivoli Enterprise
Console integration by customizing the event viewer for the Tivoli Enterprise
Portal environment. This can be done by the administrator through the Tivoli
Enterprise Console console administration functions, which are described in the
IBM Tivoli Enterprise Console Users Guide chapter on configuring. When performing
such customization, select the columns to be shown in the event viewer and their
order with the following configuration:
Severity Status Message Hostname Time Received Suborigin Class

Buttons
Select an event row to enable the buttons to Acknowledge the event, Close the
event, open a tabbed window with event Details, or to display Information about
the event. The Refresh button is disabled when no events have arrived since
the last refresh of the view; and enabled when new events have arrived.

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Events in Tivoli Enterprise Portal

The Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer is the one view in the Tivoli Enterprise
Portal user interface where you can see Tivoli Enterprise Console events. And it is
the only view where you can see and respond to both Tivoli Enterprise Console
events and forwarded situation events.

The other features of Tivoli Enterprise Portal are for situation events exclusively:
v The event indicators that appear in the Navigator and in the graphic view are
for situation events. If your environment does not use the situation features, you
can disable the situations. Alternatively, or as well, you can create a custom
Navigator view and add child items.
v When building a situation definition, you can set a take action command to start
when the situation becomes true. For Tivoli Enterprise Console events, you can
add a take action view to the workspace so it is available for quick response
to events that arise.
v The message log view and situation event console view display situation
events as they arrive. If you are forwarding situation events to the event server,
you do not need to use these views.

Tivoli Enterprise Console communications with Tivoli

Enterprise Portal and the monitoring server
When you first add a Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer to a workspace,
you are prompted for the host name for the Tivoli Enterprise Console managed
host and the user name and password for this session. You will remain
authenticated to the managed host while you are logged on to the portal server,
and you will not be prompted to log in when you add another Tivoli Enterprise
Console event viewer to this or another workspace. The Tivoli Enterprise Console
event server transmits directly to the Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer in the
Tivoli Enterprise Portal workspace unless synchronization has been configured.

When synchronization is installed and configured on the event server and

monitoring server, situation events generated at the monitoring server are
forwarded to the event server. Any change in the status of these events on the
event server or from the enterprise console are sent back to the monitoring server
for synchronization.

Figure 15. Tivoli Enterprise Console and Tivoli Monitoring Services

Tivoli Enterprise Portal

Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server

Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server

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Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Agents

Tivoli Enterprise Console event server

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Chapter 10. Situations for event-based monitoring

Situations notify you when certain conditions have been met at the system, and
can be used to send a message or command. This chapter begins with a lesson that
teaches you how to create a situation. This situation is used in the lesson, “Lesson:
Responding to alerts” on page 30.

The remainder of this chapter describes all aspects of situations, from creating
them to acknowledging events.

Event-based monitoring overview

Monitoring your enterprise is a process of observation, being alert to potential and
actual problems. The major aspects of systems management with IBM Tivoli
Monitoring products involve monitoring, fine-tuning what you are looking for, and
adjusting your environment for best operation.

For you to follow the instructions in this chapter, your user ID needs the
following permissions: Acknowledge Event, Modify Situation, and Workspace
Author Mode. Also, the Navigator Physical view must be an Assigned View.

About situations
A situation describes a condition you want to test. When you start a situation, the
monitoring server compares the situation with the values collected by the
monitoring agent and registers an event if the comparison is true. You are alerted
to situation events by alert icons that appear in the Navigator and, optionally, by
sounds that play. The graphic view also shows event indicators.

Predefined situations
Every monitoring agent comes with a set of predefined situations so you can begin
monitoring as soon as you start using Tivoli Enterprise Portal.

Examples of predefined situations:

Percentage of busy disk time is greater than 90%

This is the Physical_Disk_Busy_Critical predefined situation for the Windows OS

agent. When the value of the disk busy attribute exceeds 90%, the situation
becomes true and an event is opened.

Average response time for MQI requests is greater than 2 seconds

This predefined situation is from the monitoring agent for WebSphere MQ

Integrator. When the average amount of time it takes to respond to an MQI request
exceeds two seconds, the situation becomes true and an event opened.

Situation editor
To monitor application information, you need to specify conditions that you or
other users want to know about. Usually those conditions reflect problems within
your monitored network that require attention.

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Open the Situation editor to:

v see a list of situations running on this managed system, the same types of
managed systems, or on the enterprise
v see the definition of a situation
v create a new situation or edit a situation
v delete a situation
v start or stop a situation
v associate a situation with the current Navigator item

Situations, both predefined and custom, are stored on the monitoring server. This
means that any changes to situations made by any user whose ID is registered on
that monitoring server, will be shared with all users on the same managed
network.

Situation syntax
A situation formula describes the condition to monitor. It is made up of one or
more logical expressions. Each expression takes the form:

attribute name / logical operator / value

Looking at our earlier example of a predefined situation, Percentage of disk time is

greater than 90%, the expression appears as:

(% Disk Time > 90)

when you click Show Formula in the Situation editor. Although not shown here,
the formula uses the VALUE function.

Here are two examples of multiple expressions using AND as the expression
operator:

(DATE(Entry Time) == 09/13/02 14:02:47 AND TIME(Timestamp) ==

‘#NT_Event_Log.Entry_Time’-7D’)

This formula compares the time the event was logged (Entry Time) with the
timestamp from the data sampling. If the event occurred seven days earlier, the
situation is true. If == were changed to <= (Less than or Equal), the situation
would be true after eight days, nine days, and so on.

(SUM(CPU Utilization) > 50 AND (System Name) == redwood)

This formula totals all CPU Utilization values from the system named “redwood”.
If the sum of these values exceeds 50%, the situation is true.

Embedded and correlated situations

You can reference, or embed, a situation in another situation. This enables you to
monitor several conditions with the same situation, and mix and match them to
create new situations rather than manually entering different combinations of
expressions.

An embedded situation takes the form:

situation name / equals / true

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Conditions that can be combined in many different situation scenarios make useful
embedded situations. The following situation can be embedded in any situation
that you do not want to run on Sundays when the computer is being serviced:

( Day Of Week > ’Sunday’ )

The Not_Sunday situation is embedded in the Windows_Services_Start situation,

which also calls for two attribute values (Start Type and Current State):

( Start Type == ’Automatic’ AND Current State == ’Stopped’ AND

SIT(Not_Sunday) == True)

A correlated situation is a particular type of embedded situation. In fact, unlike

embedded situations, which can be combined with expressions (like the two
attribute values in the previous example), a correlated situation is made up entirely
of other situations. The other important distinction is that each situation is targeted
to monitor a subset of its original distribution. For example, you might have a
situation that runs on hundreds of managed systems. You can create a correlated
situation that becomes true only when that situation is true on two named
managed systems.

This correlated situation opens an event when the NT_Log_Space_Low situation is

true on the TIVOLIUSER system OR when NT_Percent_Disk_Time is true on
TIVOLIUSER.

( SIT (NT_Log_Space_Low@Primary:TIVOLIUSER:NT) == True) OR

SIT(NT_Percent_Disk_Time@Primary:TIVOLIUSER:NT) == True

Take action: Reflex automation

A situation may include a take action command, which executes when the situation
becomes true. Also referred to as reflex automation, take action enables you to
automate a response to system conditions. For example, you can send a command
to restart a process on the managed system or send a text message to a cell phone.

Lights in the Navigator

When an icon appears over a Navigator item icon, it indicates a situation of that
severity has become true on the managed system associated with the Navigator
item. You can also have a sound associated with the event.

Roll-up effect
The example below shows the roll-up effect of events. As you move up the
Navigator hierarchy, multiple events are consolidated to show only the event
indicator with the highest severity, which is Critical in this case.

Enterprise

Windows Systems

RETAIL1

Oracle

Alert Log

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Cache Totals

Contention

Databases

State and sound associated with the Navigator item

The event state—Critical, Warning or Informational—and sound (optional) are alert
mechanisms. They are saved with the situation’s association with the Navigator
item, and not with the situation definition.

This association is not obvious when you open the Situation editor from a
Navigator item and then create a situation, because it is automatic. But when you
create the situation through the Situations tool, you must manually associate it
with a Navigator item before an event indicator can display there.

Associating the situation state and sound with the Navigator item provides greater
alerting flexibility. For example, a branch office losing its LAN connection to the
corporate office is Critical to the network administration team, considered a
Warning to the backup team, and Informational to the CIO. Each group can have
its own custom Navigator view (or a different branch in the same view) and the
same situation given a different state and sound for each Navigator item.

Event workspace
When a situation becomes true, a situation event is opened. As well, if the
situation is associated with a Navigator item, a virtual light or event indicator
overlays the item and all related items above it in the Navigator. As you
mouseover the indicator, a flyover list opens. When you click one of the situations
in this list, the Event workspace opens.

The event workspace shows the values of the attributes when the situation fired
and their current values. It shows any expert advice the situation author may have
written.

Lesson: Responding to alerts in Chapter Chapter 4, “Monitoring: real-time and

event-based” shows how to open the event workspace and describes what it
shows.

Event acknowledgement
When you see an event indicator in the Navigator, you can create an
acknowledgement. This notifies other users that you have taken ownership of the
problem related to the event and are working on it.

When you acknowledge an event, a blue checkmark appears next to the situation
in the event flyover list and over the situation item in the Navigator. If the
situation is still true when the acknowledgement expires, the indicator changes
accordingly. You can also cancel the acknowledgement before it has expired, which
changes the indicator so users can see that the acknowledgment has been removed
while the situation is true.

Lesson: Creating a situation

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This lesson has you create a simple situation. The situation is used in the lesson,
“Lesson: Responding to alerts” on page 30. By completing this lesson, you will
learn the basic steps for creating any situation.

Creating a new situation

The situation you will be creating should open an event immediately because it
looks at the day of the week and becomes true if that day is any day but Sunday.
1. In the Navigator Physical view, right-click an item at the system level.
2. Select Situations from the pop-up menu to open the Situation editor.
3. Click New Situation.
4. In the Create Situation window, fill in the fields as follows and click OK:
Name: TEP_Tutorial
Description: Created by Student (where Student is your name)
5. In the Select condition window, select the following and click OK:
Attribute Group: Local_Time
Attribute Item: Day_Of_Week
The right frame of the Situation editor shows your new situation.
6. Click inside the first cell under Day Of Week.
This is the formula editor.
7. Leave the function at Value; click the Equal operator and select Not
Equal; then click inside the text box and type 01.
If you click Show Formula, the Formula area will show: Day Of Week != 1.
This is not a realistic situation, but is guaranteed to open an event.
8. In the State field, click and select Informational.
9. Click the Distribution tab to see where the situation will be distributed.
Tivoli Enterprise Portal automatically adds the current managed system to the
Assigned list. In normal practice if you wanted to run the situation on other
managed systems you would select them here.
10. Click the Expert Advice tab and type the following: This is a tutorial
situation set to be true at all times except Sunday.
11. Click OK to save and start the situation on your managed system.
When the situation becomes true, Tivoli Enterprise Portal lights up the
Navigator item with an alert indicator for an informational event. You will
see the same indicator travel to the top of the tree hierarchy. If there are
higher severity events in the tree, they will take precedence: Warning is higher
and critical is the highest severity.
The point of origin for this event indicator is the place where you opened the
Situation editor.
This lesson is the setup for “Lesson: Responding to alerts” on page 30.

Customizing a situation
As well as the set of predefined situations that come with your IBM Tivoli
Monitoring product, you can create your own situations in the Situation editor.

Your user ID must have View and Modify Situation and Workspace Author
Mode permissions to open the Situation editor for managing situations.

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Opening the Situation editor

There are several access points to the Situation editor:
v Right-click a Navigator item and select Situations.
The Situations tree shows the situations associated with the Navigator item. The
state and sound for the situation is also associated with the Navigator item. You
can give the same situation a different state and sound for different Navigator
item associations.
You will not see this option at the platform level of the Navigator Physical view
or, if this is a custom Navigator view, no managed systems were assigned.
v Click Situations. (Use this method if you do not want to associate the new
situation with any Navigator item.)
When opened through the toolbar, the Situation editor has no connection to the
Navigator. You can see all the situations available in your monitored network,
you can edit or delete any of them, create new situations, and distribute them to
managed systems. What you cannot do is associate situations with Navigator
items or change their state or sound.
v Right-click a situation in the event flyover list and select Edit Situation.
The situation opens in the Situation editor so you can read the definition and
edit it. You cannot associate (or disassociate) the situation with a Navigator item,
nor can you change its state or sound here.
v Right-click an open event in the situation event console view or in the event
flyover list and click Edit Situation.
The situation opens in the Situation editor so you can read the definition and
edit it. You cannot associate (or disassociate) the situation with a Navigator item,
nor can you change its state or sound.

Filtering the situations tree

You can filter the list of situations showing in the left pane by the managed system
to which they are assigned, or by the Navigator item or application for which they
were created. Or you can choose not to filter the list at all and see every situation
in the enterprise.
1. Click Situation Filter to open the Show Situations window.
2. Select the Show all Situations to see every situation in the enterprise; -OR-
leave the selection at Shows Situations that are and check any or all boxes:
Associated with Monitored Application to see all situations that were
written for this type of monitoring agent, regardless of where they are
distributed.
Clear this check box to see situations that have not been distributed. When you
return to the Situation tree, any undistributed situations will show their icon
partially dimmed:
Eligible for Association to show all situations that have been distributed to
the managed systems assigned to this Navigator item and that have not been
associated with it.
If you are planning to associate situations with this Navigator item, check this
box so you can see the situations that have not been associated.
Associated with this object to show all situations associated with the
Navigator item.
If you are planning to associate situations with this Navigator item, you can
uncheck this box and check the previous box to see only situations that have
not been associated.

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3. Click OK to see the result of the filtering you have set.

If the results are not what you expected or need, return to the Show Situations
window and try another setting.

Creating a situation
You can create and customize your own situations to monitor specific conditions in
your enterprise.
1. In the Situation editor, click New Situation.
2. Type a name for the situation in the Name field and, optionally, a description
in the Description field.
The name must begin with a letter, have fewer than 32 letters and numbers,
and can include underscores (_). The description must be fewer than 64
characters. The description is displayed in the Situation editor, in the Manage
Situations window, and when you select the situation for embedding in or
correlating with another situation.
3. Select the type of monitoring agent from the Monitored Application list and
click OK to open the Select Condition window.
4. For the Condition Type, select Attribute Comparison to add one more
attributes to the formula or select Situation Comparison to embed a situation
in the formula.
5. Do one of the following:
a. For Attribute Comparison, select an attribute group. Then select an
attribute item from the list that displays on the right.
b. For Situation Comparison, select the situation to embed.
You can then use Ctrl+click to select additional items from the list or
Shift+click to select all items between and including the first selection and this
one. Attributes or situations that have already been chosen are colored blue.
6. Click OK to see the items in the formula editor.
7. For each attribute selected, click inside the cell under the column heading and
compose the expression :
a. To change the function, click Value (or Compare date/time for a time
attribute), and select one from the list. See Appendix A, “Formula
functions,” on page 205 for descriptions.
b. To change the relational operator, click equal.
c. Click inside the text box and enter or select the value to test.
Keep multiple expressions in the same row if they must all be met (Boolean
AND logic) and on separate rows if any of them may be met (Boolean OR
logic) to set the situation to true. See page 214.
8. Select any other options in the Formula tab:
v To add another condition to the situation, click Add Conditions and repeat
steps 4 through 7.
v To add event persistence or a display item, click Advanced.
v To change the sampling interval, click inside the dd (day), hh (hour), mm
(minute) or ss (second) field and click the up and down arrows.
v To start the situation manually rather than automatically, clear .
The Situation editor must be opened from a Navigator item to see these fields:
v To choose a different State, select one from the list.
v To play a sound when an event opens, select in the Sound area. Click
Edit to change the sound file or its properties.

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9. Select other tabs in the Situation editor to:

v Distribute the situation.
v Write expert advice
v Specify an action to take
v Add an Until modifier
10. When you are finished composing or editing the situation, save your changes
and start the situation by clicking Apply to keep the editor open; or by
clicking OK to close the Situation editor.
The Situation editor performs syntax checking on each expression you enter. If
you entered an improper value for an attribute, such as “abc” for Disk Size,
the cell turns red and the situation will not be saved until you correct the
error.
If you opened the Situation editor from the toolbar, the situation you just
created will not be associated with any Navigator items and no event
indicator is displayed when the situation becomes true. You must associate a
situation with a Navigator item or change its state and click Apply.
Situations are stored at the hub monitoring server. In the unlikely event that
two users attempt to save a situation with the same name simultaneously, an
error will occur, ensuring that one situation does not overwrite another.
11. If the Distribution Change window is displayed, click OK to add the managed
systems shown in the Required Managed Systems list to the distribution for
this situation.

Embedding a situation
You can reference, or embed, a situation in another situation. This enables you
monitor several conditions with the same situation, and mix and match them to
create new situations rather than manually entering different combinations of
expressions.
1. Do one of the following to open the Situation editor:
v Click Situations if, for the time being, you do not want to see an event
indicator when this situation becomes true. (You can associate the situation
at a later time.)
v Right-click the Navigator item where you want the alert to originate and
click Situations.
2. Click New Situation to open the Create Situation window.
3. Type a name for the situation in the Name field and, optionally, a description
in the Description field.
The name must begin with a letter, have fewer than 32 letters and numbers,
and can include underscores (_). The description must be fewer than 64
characters. The description is displayed in the Situation editor, in the Manage
Situations window, and when you select the situation for embedding in or
correlating with another situation.
4. Select the type of monitoring agent from the Monitored Application list and
click OK to open the Select Condition window.
5. For the Condition Type, select Situation Comparison, then select the
situation to embed.
You can then use Ctrl+click to select additional situations from the list or
Shift+click to select all situations between and including the first selection and
this one. Situations that have already been chosen are colored blue.
6. Click OK to see the situations in the formula editor.

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7. Click in a cell below each new column to add == True and complete the
expression.
If two conditions must be satisfied, this is an AND comparison and their
expressions must be entered on the same row of the editor; if either condition
can be satisfied for the situation to be true, then this is an OR comparison and
the expressions are entered on different rows.
8. A situation that embeds another requires at least two conditions. If you have
more conditions to add, click Add Conditions, and repeat steps 4 through 7
until you are finished with the formula.
The other condition can be a formula function or another embedded situation.
9. Adjust any other settings in the Formula tab:
v To add another condition to the situation, click Add Conditions.
v To add event persistence or a display item, click Advanced.
v To change the sampling interval, click inside the dd (day), hh (hour), mm
(minute) or ss (second) field and click the up and down arrows.
v To start the situation manually rather than automatically, clear Run at
startup.
The Situation editor must be opened from a Navigator item to see these fields:
v To choose a different State, select one from the list.
v To play a sound when an event opens, select Enable in the Sound area.
Click Edit to change the sound file or its properties.
10. Select other tabs in the Situation editor to:
v Distribute the situation.
v Write expert advice
v Specify an action to take
v Add an Until modifier
11. When you are finished composing or editing the situation, save your changes
and start the situation by clicking Apply to keep the editor open; or by
clicking OK to close the Situation editor.
The Situation editor performs syntax checking on each expression you enter. If
you entered an improper value for an attribute, such as “abc” for Disk Size,
the cell turns red and the situation will not be saved until you correct the
error.
If you opened the Situation editor from the toolbar, the situation you just
created will not be associated with any Navigator items and no event
indicator is displayed when the situation becomes true. You must associate a
situation with a Navigator item or change its state and click Apply.
12. If the Distribution Change window is displayed, click OK to add the managed
systems shown in the Required Managed Systems list to the distribution for
this situation.

Notes
v If you change an embedded situation, you must restart each situation that
embeds it.
v The properties of the embedding situation, such as the monitoring interval,
override the properties of the embedded situation.
v You must distribute each embedded situation to the same managed systems as
the embedding situation. Otherwise, the embedding situation does not run.
v When you stop a situation that embeds other situations, only the embedding
situation is stopped; the embedded situations continue to run.

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v Situations are stored at the hub monitoring server. It is possible that while you
were building the situation that any of the embedded situations could have be
deleted. Should this happen, a message will tell you that the embedded situation
is missing when you attempt to save your changes. You will need to remove the
embedded situation from this one before you can save it. You can always create
a new situation to be embedded or find another one that is the equivalent and
embed that one.
v In the unlikely event that two users attempt to save a situation with the same
name simultaneously, an error will occur ensuring that one situation does not
overwrite another.
v If you are running multiple versions of a monitoring agent, you will be able to
distribute a situation only to the managed systems that the version supports.

Creating a correlated situation

A correlated situation is one that is made up entirely of other situations. Their
behavior in this correlated situation is different in that each is targeted to monitor
a subset of its original distribution. For example, you might have a situation that
runs on hundreds of managed systems. You can create a correlated situation that
becomes true only when that situation is true on any two of your four most critical
managed systems.
1. Do one of the following to open the Situation editor:
v Click if, for the time being, you do not want to see an event indicator
when this situation becomes true. (You can associate the situation at a later
time.)
v Right-click the Navigator item where you want the alert to originate and
click .
2. Click to open the Create Situation window.
3. Type a name for the situation in the Name field and, optionally, a description
in the Description field.
The name must begin with a letter, have fewer than 32 letters and numbers,
and can include underscores (_). The description must be fewer than 64
characters. The description is displayed in the Situation editor, in the Manage
Situations window, and when you select the situation for embedding in or
correlating with another situation.
4. Select and click OK.
As soon as you select the check box, Monitored Application is set to Tivoli
Enterprise Monitoring Server Hub and disabled. Correlated situations are
distributed to the hub monitoring server automatically
5. In the Correlated Situation Selection window, select a situation from the
Available Situations list, select the managed system (or managed systems) to
correlate from the Available Managed Systems list, then click OK to add the
situation to the editor.
A column is inserted for each managed system that was selected.
6. Click in a cell below each new column to add == True and complete the
expression.
If the comparison must be satisfied on both managed systems, this is an AND
comparison and their expressions must be entered on the same row; if the
comparison can be satisfied on either managed system, this is an OR
comparison and the expressions must be entered on different rows.

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7. A correlated situation is not complete until it has at least two conditions. If

you have more situations to add, click Add Conditions, select the next
situation and managed system (or managed systems), click OK, and select
inside a cell of each column added.
If a managed system name is colored blue instead of black, it means the
situation for this managed system was already added to the correlation
formula.
As noted in step 6, the cell must be on the same row as any expressions
whose comparisons must also be satisfied for the correlated situation to be
true, and on a different row from any expressions whose comparisons do not
also need to be satisfied for the correlated situation to be true.
8. Adjust any other settings in the Formula tab to complete the formula:
v To add event persistence, click Advanced.
v To change the sampling interval, click inside the dd (day), hh (hour), mm
(minute) or ss (second) field and click the up and down arrows.
v To start the situation manually rather than automatically, clear .
The Situation editor must be opened from a Navigator item to see these fields:
v To choose a different State, select one from the list.
v To play a sound when an event opens, select in the Sound area. Click
Edit to change the sound file or its properties.
9. Select other tabs in the Situation editor to:
v Distribute the situation.
v Write expert advice
v Specify an action to take
v Add an Until modifier
10. When you are finished composing or editing the situation, save your changes
and start the situation by clicking Apply to keep the editor open; or by
clicking OK to close the Situation editor.
If you opened the Situation editor from the toolbar, the situation you just
created will not be associated with any Navigator items and no event
indicator is displayed when the situation becomes true. You must associate a
situation with a Navigator item or change its state and click Apply.

Notes
v If you change an embedded situation, you must restart each situation that
embeds it.
v The properties of the embedding situation, such as the monitoring interval,
override the properties of the embedded situation.
v When you stop a situation that embeds other situations, only the embedding
situation is stopped; the embedded situations continue to run.
v If you are running multiple versions of a monitoring agent, you will be able to
distribute a situation only to the managed systems that the version supports.

Create another situation

If a predefined situation is similar to one you want, you can copy the original and
edit the copy.
1. If you opened the editor from a Navigator item and do not see the situation
you want to copy, click Situation Filter to open the Show Situations window,
then check Eligible for Association.
2. Select the situation to copy, and click Create Another.

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3. Type a name for the situation and click OK.

The name must begin with a letter, can be up to 32 letters and numbers, and
can include underscores (_).
4. Continue with the steps for Creating a situation, starting with step 4 on page
“tacmd createSit” on page 218.

Condition tab options

Description
This is the optional one-line description of the situation.

Condition
The Condition area specifies the condition to be tested by the situation. Clicking a
cell under a column activates the editor and enables the formula bar. The active
cell has three fields for building an expression.
v Function is the function chosen for the attribute, and set to Value of
expression (or Compare date/time for time attributes) by default. See
Appendix A, “Formula functions,” on page 205 for descriptions.
v Comparison operator is the relational operator, and set to Equal by default.
Other choices, depending on the function chosen, are Not Equal, Greater Than,
Greater Than or Equal, Less Than, Less Than or Equal.
v Text shows the value of the attribute to be compared with the values arriving
from the agent.
Enumerated attributes have a predefined set of values from which to choose .
Check for Missing Items (on page 209)and the functions for time attributes (on
page 210)open a window for you to select or enter certain values.

Multiple expressions that must all be met for the situation to be true are entered on
the same row (Boolean AND logic); -OR- if any expression may be met they are
entered on different rows (Boolean OR logic). See on page 214.

Show Formula displays the formula in text format and as graphical elements.
Use Show detailed formula to see the detailed name of the attribute group and
attributes used in the formula.

Add Conditions opens the Select condition window. The Local and Universal Time
attribute groups show along with the group chosen originally. You can combine the
Local and Universal Time attributes with any other attribute group in the situation.
In addition, when you create a situation with a single-row attribute group, you can
add attributes from one multi-row group or from any number of other single-row
groups belonging to this agent.

Advanced opens a window with these options:

v Consecutive true samples determines the number of sampling intervals that the
situation remains true for before a notification is sent to the portal client. The
default 1 means the situation will be processed normally and no persistence
checking will take place.
Persistence is useful for determining whether a condition is solid or intermittent.
You can use it with the Action tab to invoke a command if the condition persists
for the designated period of time (persistence x interval). You can also use this

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feature to control when an event indicator should appear. Additionally, you can
use it when a situation is referenced in a policy, to control flow through the
policy.
v Display Item is an attribute you choose to further qualify a situation. Normally,
when a situation encounters a value in a row that meets the condition, it opens
an event and no more until the event has been closed and then opened again.
With a display item set, the situation continues to look at the other rows in the
sampling and opens more events if other rows qualify.
Only certain attributes may be designated as display items.

Sampling interval
The sampling interval is set to 15 minutes by default. You can change it to as little
as once a quarter or as often as once per second. The more frequent the sampling,
the more resources used. To change the sampling interval, click inside the dd
(day), hh (hour), mm (minute) or ss (second) field and click the up-arrow or
down-arrow to adjust the number.

Run at startup starts the situation monitoring as soon as it is saved with Apply
or OK, when the managed system to which it is distributed comes online, and
when the hub monitoring server has been restarted. Uncheck the box if you want
to start the situation manually from the Situation editor.

State
(Not available when you open the Situation editor through the toolbar.) This is the
state indicated when the condition has been met and the situation becomes true.
An event indicator for Critical, Warning, or Informational overlays the item icon in
the Navigator. In the State field, click and select Informational or Warning
if you want to change from the default Critical.

Sound
(Not available when you open the Situation editor through the toolbar.)

Enable, when checked, causes the sound file to play when an event opens or
reopens for this situation. Click Play to hear the sound.

Edit opens the sound properties. You can click Browse to select a sound file from
the list in the sound directory or user subdirectory. Click Help to see a description
of the window.

Candle Management Workstation users: If the situation was written with a syntax
not supported by Tivoli Enterprise Portal, the formula will not be viewable and
you will see a message in the status bar. When a situation that was created in the
CMW becomes true, its alert indicator may not show up in the Navigator Physical
view because it has not been associated with a Navigator item. See “Associating
situations with Navigator items” on page 132.

Distribute the situation

The distribution of a situation determines where it will run. The situation tree
partially dims the icon for any situations that have not been distributed.
1. If it is not already, Opening the Situation editor and select the situation whose
distribution you want to change.
2. Click the Distribution tab.
3. To remove a managed system or managed systems list from the Assigned list,
select the name and click .

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4. To add to the Assigned list, select from the Available Managed Systems or
Available Managed Systems Lists or both and click .
Available Managed Systems shows the agents to which the situation can be
distributed.
Available Managed Systems Lists Each monitoring agent product comes with
one managed system list named for the product, such as *MS_SQL_SERVER for
IBM Tivoli Monitoring for MS SQL Server managed systems, and you may
have custom lists that were created through Edit > Managed System Lists.
Click Edit Managed System List to see the managed systems comprising a
managed system list or to create a new list.
5. Select other tabs in the Situation editor to:
v Write expert advice
v Specify an action to take
v Add an Until modifier
6. When you are finished composing or editing the situation, save your changes
and start the situation by clicking Apply to keep the editor open; -OR- click
OK to close the Situation editor.

Write expert advice

Use the Expert Advice tab to add comments or instructions in the text editor, up to
500 characters, for the user to see in the event workspace.
1. If it is not already, Opening the Situation editor and select the situation to write
expert advice for.
2. Click the Expert Advice tab.
3. In the HTML editor, enter text and any hypertext links to be viewed from the
event workspace.
See HTML editor, Open a web page, and Text scripting language below.
4. Select other tabs in the Situation editor to:
v Specify an action to take
v Add an Until modifier
5. When you are finished composing or editing the situation, save your changes
and start the situation by clicking Apply to keep the editor open; -OR- click
OK to close the Situation editor.

HTML editor
Add comments or instructions in the HTML editor. The text is converted to an
HTML document in the Expert Advice view of the Event workspace. You can
format the text, such as to bold or italicize a word, using the proper HTML code.
For example,

<b>bold</b> and <i>italics</i>.

You can also add links, using HTML tagging, as in

<a href ″http://www.ibm.com″>IBM</a>.

Click Preview to check that your coding is correct.

Open a web page

If you would like to automatically open a web page in the Expert Advice view,
enter just the URL without any other text in the HTML editor. For example, if the
only entry in the editor is

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http://www.ibm.com

the view opens to that web site. Click Preview to test the URL.

Text scripting language

The conditional expressions you can build in the Link Wizard expression editor
can also be included in Expert Advice. The syntax is very specific, so it is best to
gather the attribute reference or to compose the expression in the Link Wizard and
copy it to the expert advice. (See Tip below.)

An expression can be a combination of literal values, references to values available

from the source context, operators, and functions applied to values. Click Preview
to check that your coding does what is intended.

Example:

search = INPUT(“What do you want to look for?”, “enter”);”<BODY

BGCOLOR=’#e6e6fa’>Searching database for <b>”+search+″</b>... <META
HTTP-EQUIV=’refresh’ CONTENT=’1;
URL=http://searchenginesite.com/search?q=”+search+”’>”

The code creates the variable “search” from what the user enters when prompted,
“What do you want to look for?”, and enters that value as part of the URL for the
searchenginesite.com search engine. The META ’refresh’ tag is used to switch to the
web site automatically after one second. The INPUT function is available in the
Link Wizard.

Example:

name = $EVENT:ATTRIBUTE.ISITSTSH.SITNAME$;
node = $NODE$;
″<BODY BGCOLOR=’#FFFF80’><div align=center><h3><i>This is expert advice
for </i> </h3><h2>″+name+″</h1> on ″+node+ ″<p>Please notify your system
administrator that <b>″+name+″</b> fired. <p>To learn more, click here: <a
href=http://www.searchenginesite.com/search?q=″+name+″> Tivoli Advice
</a></div>″

The code in this example inserts the name of the situation and the name of the
managed system in the text. It then provides a link to searchenginesite.com, which
searches for the situation name and displays the results automatically.

Event attributes
As well as the situation name given in the previous example above, you can
reference any other event attribute in the code:
situation name $EVENT:ATTRIBUTE.ISITSTSH.SITNAME$
monitoring server name $EVENT:ATTRIBUTE.ISITSTSH.NODE$
managed system name $EVENT:ATTRIBUTE.ISITSTSH.ORIGINNODE$
display item $EVENT:ATTRIBUTE.ISITSTSH.ATOMIZE$
global timestamp $EVENT:ATTRIBUTE.ISITSTSH.GBLTMSTMP$
local timestamp $EVENT:ATTRIBUTE.ISITSTSH.LCLTMSTMP$
status $EVENT:ATTRIBUTE.ISITSTSH.DELTASTAT$

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Specify an action to take

Use the Action tab to send a command to a system or a message to the universal
message console (See “Universal message console” on page 173.)when the situation
becomes true. You may want to log information, trigger an audible beep, or stop a
job that is overusing resources. The command can be a single action or a script
containing several commands. The portal client receives no feedback after it sends
the command or notifies the user.

Note: The action will not be invoked if the situation is used in a policy.
1. If it is not already, open the situation editor (page 120) and select the situation
to which you want to specify reflex automation.
2. Click the Action tab.
3. Leave System Command selected or select Universal Message:
v For a system command, write the command exactly as you would enter it
manually for the application and operating platform on which it is running.
v For a universal message, write the category, severity and the text to display
in the Universal message console view.
– category of messages to see (for example, critical, warning, information),
up to 16 characters.
– severity of the message, one word of up to 8 characters, such as 1 or high.
– message text when the situation occurs, up to 256 characters.
4. If the condition is true for more than one monitored item,
Only take action on first item to issue the command on only the first row
that meets the condition.
Take action on each item to issue the command once for each row of data
returned that meets the condition.
For example, if the situation fires when any process uses over 80% of the CPU,
you can issue a command to terminate just the first process that meets this
criteria, or you can issue a command to terminate all processes that meet the
criteria.
5. Where should the Action be executed (performed):
Determines where to perform the action: on the system where the agent resides
or the monitoring server to which it is connected.
Execute the Action at the Managed System (Agent)
Execute the Action at the Managing System (TEMS)
If you are sending a Universal Message, the action takes place at the
monitoring server.
6. If the condition stays true over multiple intervals:
Don’t take action twice in a row to execute the command or universal
message once, and not every time incoming data matches the condition.
Take action in each interval to invoke the command or issue the universal
message when the situation is true in an interval, irrespective of its state in the
previous interval.
7. Select the Until tab in the Situation editor if you want to Add an Until
modifier.
8. When you are finished composing or editing the situation, save your changes
and start the situation by clicking Apply to keep the editor open or OK to
close the Situation editor.

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User ID requirements
To issue a command, the user ID must be authorized on the relevant system for
the requested command. For example, to issue a TSO command, your user ID
must be a valid TSO ID. The user ID must also be defined as a valid logon ID for
Tivoli Enterprise Portal.

If an application prefix is used (such as MQ:), then the Tivoli Enterprise Portal
logon ID will be used. However, for system level commands, the authorization of
the agent will be used.

Attribute substitution
This option opens a window for choosing an attribute to include in the command
or universal message. The attribute name is replaced by the value during execution
of the Action command or issuance of the universal message. Example:

echo System: &NT_Logical_Disk.Server_Name, Disk:

&NT_Logical_Disk.Disk_Name, Space Available:
&NT_Logical_Disk.%_Free%|mail userID

This command sends an email that reads:

System: MyServer, Disk: D:, Space Available: 15%.

Usage examples
Suppose your UNIX system has recently been plagued by insufficient memory. You
are not certain your system really needs more memory resources; maybe a poorly
designed application or process is causing the problem. You want to gather system
data to analyze the cause of the memory problem, but you do not want to allocate
personnel to gather the data.

You can write a situation to monitor excessive page-ins and page faults and, when
either occurs (indicating a memory bottleneck), write the process name and ID to a
log for analysis by an application at a later time.

A UNIX shell command to execute at a UNIX system.This mail command will

direct the message to userID:

mail node userID text

A Windows a command for sending a message to a system:

net send computer_name message

as in.

net send MYPC Disk is 85% full. Delete some files.

Add an Until modifier

Add an Until modifier to control when a true situation closes: after a period of
time or when another situation is true or, if you select both, whichever occurs first.
1. If it is not already, Opening the Situation editor and select the situation to
which you want to specify reflex automation.
2. Click the Until tab.
3. Check Another Situation is TRUE to close the event when the situation is
true. Select a situation from the list.

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The situations available are for the same type of monitoring agent that this
situation uses or that use the IBM Tivoli Monitoring common attributes.
4. Select Reset Interval Expires to close the event after the specified interval, 15
minutes by default. To change the interval, click inside dd (day), hh (hour), mm
(minute) or ss (second) and click the list box arrows: or .
When this box is left unchecked, the event does not close until the situation
becomes false.
5. When you finish composing or editing the situation, save your changes and
start the situation by clicking Apply to keep the editor open; -OR- click OK to
close the Situation editor.

Associating situations with Navigator items

When you create a situation, it must be associated with a Navigator item before an
event indicator can display there.

Association is done manually for situations created in the Situation editor when it
was opened from the toolbar.

When you associate a situation with a Navigator item, the situation state (Critical,
Warning, or Informational) and sound are also associated with the item. You can
have different states and sounds for the same situation

Your user ID must have View and Modify Situation permissions for this
function.

Distribute, assign, associate

For the lights to go on in the Navigator, situations, managed systems and
Navigator items must be connected.
Distribute When you create a situation, you distribute it to the managed
systems on which it should run.
Assign In custom Navigator views you need to assign managed systems to
the Navigator items where you would like to see event indicators.
This is not necessary for the Navigator Physical view (or with
items shared with Navigator Physical view items) because
managed systems are assigned automatically to the Navigator
items at the system, agent, and attribute levels.
Associate Even though the managed system has been assigned to the
Navigator item, you still need to associate with the Navigator item
any situations for which you want to see event indicators.
Association with a Navigator item is automatic when you open the
Situations editor from the pop-up menu for that item, then create
or open the situation and click Apply.

Associate a situation
If you access the Situation editor through the toolbar to create situations or have
custom situations that were built in the Candle Management Workstation, no alert
will be visible in the Navigator when the situation becomes true until you
associate it with a Navigator item.
1. Right-click the Navigator item to which you want to associate a situation and
select Situations from the pop-up menu.

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Navigator Physical view: Situations shows in the pop-up menu for all
Navigator items except those at the operating platform level (such as Linux
Systems). The Enterprise item is limited to Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server
situations distributed to *HUB_ or *ALL_TEMS.
Custom Navigator view: The Navigator item must have at least one managed
system assigned or else you will not see the Situations option.
The Situation editor opens with the list of situations that have been associated
with this Navigator item.
2. Click Situation Filter to open the Show Situations window.
3. Select Eligible for Association, clear Associated with this Object.
If you are associating a situation with the Enterprise item in the Navigator
Physical view, also select Associated with Monitored Application.
4. If you want to apply a different event state to the situation than the default
critical state (or the one it was created with) or you want to apply an event
sound, select the situation from the tree, then do one or both of the following.
v To choose a different State, click Critical and select Informational or
Warning.
v To play a sound when an event opens, check Enabled in the Sound area.
Click Edit to change the sound file or its properties.
5. Right-click the situation to associate with the Navigator item and select
Associate.
You can use Ctrl+click to select more situations or Shift+click to select all
situations between and including the first selection and this one, but be aware
that all the situations will have the Critical State and no Sound enabled.
If a progress bar displays, you can click Stop to pause, then Resume when you
are ready to continue, or Cancel the operation.
6. Check your work by clicking Situation Filter, clearing
Eligible for Association, and selecting Associated with this Object.
Only the situations associated with this Navigator item will appear in the list.
7. When you are finished composing or editing the situation, save your changes
and start the situation by clicking Apply to keep the editor open; -OR- click
OK to close the Situation editor.

Disassociate a situation
If you no longer want to event indicators to originate for this situation from the
Navigator item, disassociate it.
1. Right-click the Navigator item from which you want to disassociate a situation.
2. Select Situations from the pop-up menu.
Navigator Physical view: Situations does not show in the pop-up menu at the
platform level.
Custom Navigator view: The Navigator item must have at least one managed
system assigned, or else you will not see Situations in the pop-up menu.
The Situation editor opens with the list of situations that have been associated
with this Navigator item.
3. Right-click the situation you want to disassociate from the Navigator item and
select Disassociate; -OR- if you want to remove all associations, select
Disassociate All.

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If you have multiple situations to disassociate, you can use Ctrl+click to select
more situations or Shift+click to select all situations between and including the
first selection and this one.
If a progress bar displays, you can click Stop to pause, then Resume when you
are ready to continue, or Cancel to stop the process.
4. To save your changes, click Apply if you want to keep the Situation editor
open; -OR- click OK to close it.

Starting, stopping, or deleting a situation

You can start or stop a situation from several places:
v Situation event flyover list
v Situation event console view
v Situation editor
v Manage Situations at Managed System window
No matter which method you choose, the effect is the same: the situation starts or
stops on all the managed systems to which it is distributed. Likewise, deleting a
situation removes its presence from every managed system to which it was
distributed.
Notes:
1. When you stop a situation that embeds other situations, only the embedding
situation is stopped; the embedded situations continue to run. This is also true
for correlated situations.
2. If you stop a situation that has an open event, you can close the event from the
situation flyover list, the event Navigator item, or situation event console view.
See “Closing an event” on page 138.

To use this feature, your user ID must have Modify permission for Situations.

Start or stop a situation from the situation event flyover list

1. Point to an event indicator in the Navigator to open the event flyover list.
2. Right-click the situation name.
You can use Ctrl+click to select additional situations or Shift+click to select all
situations between and including the first selection and this one.
3. Click one of the following:
Start the situation. This has no effect if the situation is already started.
Stop the situation running. The situation will remain stopped until you
start it again manually or, if it is set to Run at startup, when you next log on to
the portal server or edit the situation.
A progress bar is displayed with a Stop button so you can pause, then Resume
or Cancel the operation.

Start or stop a situation from the situation event console view

1. Open or create a workspace that contains a situation event console view.
2. Right-click the row of the situation you want to start or stop.
Use Ctrl+click to select additional situations or Shift+click to select all situations
between and including the first selection and this one.
3. Click one of the following:

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Start the situation. This has no effect if the situation is already started.
Stop the situation. The situation will remain stopped until you start it again
manually or, if it is set to Run at startup, when you next log on to the portal
server or edit the situation.
A progress bar is displayed with a Stop button so you can pause, then Resume
or Cancel the operation.

Start or stop a situation from the Situation editor

1. Do one of the following to open the Situation editor:
v Right-click a Navigator item and click Situations. (See the Note at the
end of this section if you do not see this option.)
v Click Situations.
v Right-click a situation in the event flyover list and click Edit situation.
v Right-click an event item in the Navigator and click Edit situation.
v Right-click an open event in the situation event console view and click
Edit situation.
v Right-click an agent item in the Navigator physical view and click
Manage situations. Select a situation and click Edit situation.
2. If you do not see the situation, click Situation filter and select all the
options.
3. Right-click the name in the Situation tree.
You can use Ctrl+click to select additional situations or Shift+click to select all
situations between and including the first selection and this one.
4. Click one of the following:
Start the situation. This has no effect if the situation is already started.
Stop the situation. The situation will remain stopped until you start it again
manually or, if it is set to Run at startup, when you next log on to the portal
server or edit the situation.
A progress bar is displayed with a Stop button so you can pause, then Resume
or Cancel the operation.

Start or stop a situation from the Manage Situations at

Managed System window
The Manage Situations at Managed System window lists the definition details for
all the situations that are distributed to the managed system and has options for
starting, stopping, and editing situations.
1. Right-click an agent item in the Navigator physical view and click
Manage situations.
2. In the Manage Situations at Managed System window, select the situation you
want to start or stop.
Use Ctrl+click to select additional situations or Shift+click to select all situations
between and including the first selection and this one. You can also click Select
All for all situations in the list.
3. Click one of the following:

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Start the situation. This has no effect if the situation is already started.
Stop the situation. The situation will remain stopped until you start it again
manually or, if it is set to Run at startup, when you next log on to the portal
server or edit the situation.
4. Click Refresh to refresh the view and see your changes.

Deleting a situation
Use the Situation editor to delete situations. Keep in mind that deleting a situation
removes it from the entire managed network.
1. Do one of the following to open the Situation editor:
v Right-click a Navigator item and click Situations. (See the Note at the
end of this section if you do not see this option.)

v Click Situations.
v Right-click a situation in the event flyover list and click Edit situation.
v Right-click an event item in the Navigator and click Edit situation.
v Right-click an open event in the situation event console view and click
Edit situation.
v Right-click an

agent item in the Navigator physical view and click Manage situations.
Select a situation and click Edit situation.
2. If you do not see the situation, click Situation filter and select all the
options.
3. Right-click the name in the Situation tree and click Delete.
You can use Ctrl+click to select additional situations or Shift+click to select all
situations between and including the first selection and this one.
A progress bar is displayed with a Stop button so you can pause, then Resume
or Cancel the operation.
4. If this situation is referenced (embedded) in another situation or in a policy, a
Referential Integrity window opens with a list of the affected objects and you
must do the following before you can delete the situation:
a. Click Copy if you want to save the list to the clipboard.
b. Click Cancel. You can now paste the list into a text editor or a notepad
view in a workspace.
c. Edit each situation or policy in the list to delete the reference to this
situation. (With the situation open in the Formula editor, right-click the
column heading for the embedded situation, and click Delete. With the
policy open in the Workflow editor, select the activity references this
situation, and click Clear.)

Note: Situations is only in the pop-up menu of Navigator items that have
managed systems assigned: In the Navigator Physical view, managed
systems are preassigned to every item except those at the operating platform
level (such as Linux Systems) and cannot be changed. In the Navigator
Logical and custom views, managed systems are assigned when you create a
Navigator item or edit its properties.

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Event management
In Lesson: Responding to alerts you learned how to open an event workspace,
acknowledge an event, and close it. This section describes all the options for
managing events.

Note: When a monitoring agent goes offline, you may still see an event indicator
for a situation. This is because the last time the agent reported the situation
status to the monitoring server, the condition was present. When the agent
comes back online, the situation is re-evaluated, the current condition
determined, and the status is reported appropriately.

User ID permissions for Situations include Start/Stop, View, and Modify; and
those for Events are Acknowledge and Close. If any of these fails to appear in the
pop-up menu, your user ID does not have permission for the function.

Turn the sound off

When an event opens for a situation that has a file assigned, the sound plays while
the event is open.
v To turn the sound off, click Turn Sound OFF.
v To turn the sound back on, click Turn Sound ON.

Tip: Use your Windows Sound and Audio Devices or Multimedia utility,
accessible from the Control Panel, to adjust the volume.

Open the event workspace

The event workspace has views to help you understand the cause of the event and
what to do about it.
1. Move the mouse pointer over the an indicator in the Navigator or graphic view
to open a flyover listing of the situation (or situations) that caused the event (or
events).
The Navigator shows one event indicator for an item. If more than one
situation is true, the event indicator with the highest severity appears.
Entries in the flyover list are grouped by severity and report the situation
name; name of the system on which the event occurred; two-letter code for the
type of monitoring agent; event timestamp; display item if one was specified;
and a situation status icon if:
the event has been acknowledged;
Expired the acknowledgment has expired;
the acknowledgment was removed before it had expired and the situation is
still true;
the situation is not functioning properly and you will not be able to open its
event workspace; or
the situation has been stopped and you will not be able to open its event
workspace.
2. In the flyover list, click next to a situation to open its event workspace.
When the event workspace opens, the Navigator expands that branch of the
tree and shows an event item. Multiple events within a branch are consolidated
under one event indicator.
3. Review the event workspace that opens.
The views in this workspace help you investigate the condition:

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v Initial Situation Values shows the values of the attributes when the situation
fired. Mouseover the highlighted value that caused the event to see the
situation formula.
v Current Situation Values shows the current values of the attribute group used
in the situation. Mouseover an attribute value to see the situation formula.
v Take Action enables you to send a command to an application on the
managed system where the event occurred or on another system.
v Expert Advice appears if the author of the situation included it. This view
may open to a Web page or have Web links.

Create or remove an acknowledgement

When multiple users are monitoring the network for events, one of these users can
acknowledge an event to indicate it has been seen and the problem is being
worked on.
1. Do one of the following:
v Move the mouse pointer over an indicator in the Navigator or graphic view
to open the flyover list of events, then right-click the event you want to
acknowledge.
v If you have opened the event workspace, right-click the event item in the
Navigator.
v In the situation event console view, right-click a row.
2. Select Acknowledge from the pop-up menu.
3. Do one of the following:
v Adjust the Expiration settings for the time when the acknowledgement
should expire, type any notes associated with the event, and click to insert
a timestamp.
If you select Expire at a specific time, click , change the time, then click
the expiration day to close the calendar.
After you click OK, the Navigator shows for the acknowledged event and
the flyover list shows after the event timestamp. The acknowledgement
indicator turns off if the situation becomes false. If the situation is still true
when the acknowledgement expires, the icon will change to Expired.
v Click Remove.
After you click OK, the acknowledgement is removed and the
acknowledgement status for the open event changes to Reopened.

Note: Although you can acknowledge a pure event, the acknowledgement does
not stop the arrival of more pure events.

Closing an event
When the condition of a situation is met, the situation becomes true. An event
indicator appears at the original point in the Navigator and the source branch. If
this is a pure event or one whose situation has been stopped, you can turn off the
indicator by closing the event. Closing an event does not stop or restart the
situation; it continues to run but the indicator disappears until another pure event
arrives or the stopped situation has been restarted and becomes true.

You can close an event from the situation event flyover list, the event Navigator
item, or the situation event console view.

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Situation flyover list

From the event flyover list, do the following to close a pure event or one whose
situation has been stopped:
1. In the Navigator, move the mouse pointer over the event indicator to open a
flyover listing of the true situations.
2. In the flyover list, right-click the situation whose pure event you want to close
or the situation that has been stopped and whose event you want to close.
3. Click Close Situation Event.
The indicator disappears until another pure event arrives or the situation is
started again and becomes true.

Event Navigator item

From the Navigator item for an event, do the following to close a pure event:
1. In the Navigator, move the mouse pointer over the event indicator to open a
flyover listing of the true situations.
2. In the flyover list, click a situation name to open its event workspace.
The Navigator focus moves to the event location and shows the situation name,
and its event workspace opens.
3. In the Navigator, right-click the event item and click Close Situation
Event.
The indicator disappears until another pure event arrives or the situation is
started again and becomes true.

Situation event console view

From the situation event console view, do the following to close a pure event or
one whose situation has been stopped:
1. In the workspace where the situation event console view displays, right-click
the pure event (or the situation that has been stopped) you want to close.
Pure events are indicated by Expand in the first cell and Pure in the Type
cell of the event row.
2. In the flyover list, right-click the situation whose pure event you want to close
or the situation that has been stopped and whose event you want to close.
3. Click Close Situation Event.
The indicator disappears until another pure event arrives or the situation is
started again and becomes true.
Notes:
1. If you close a pure event, you cannot acknowledge it.
2. If you know you need to take an action that will trigger an event, such as
stopping an application, but you do not want notification, you can take
preemptive measures to stop an event from opening: You can stop the situation
then restart it when you want it to begin running again; or, if you can schedule
the time when you don’t want the situation to run, you can add a time
expression to the situation (such as #’LOCALTIME.DAYOFWEEK’ > ’Sunday’).

Removing an event item

The event item remains in the Navigator until you exit Tivoli Enterprise Portal or
remove it. Removing the item does not affect the event or the situation.
1. Right-click the event item in the Navigator.
2. Select x Remove Event Item from the pop-up menu.

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The event item is removed from the Navigator.

Managed system lists

Overview
A managed system list is a defined set of managed systems. You can create your
own managed system lists for any grouping of managed systems and apply them
to:
v distribution of a situation
v distribution for policies correlated by business application group
v managed system assignments for queries
v managed system assignments for Navigator items in custom Navigator views

If the Edit menu has no Managed System Lists item, your user ID does not
have View permission for Managed System Lists. If you can open the editor, but
the tools are disabled after you select a managed system type or list, your user ID
does not have Modify permission for Managed System Lists.

Predefined managed system lists

The hub monitoring server and every monitoring agent has at least one predefined
managed system list, indicated by an asterisk at the beginning of the list name,
such as *NW_AGENTand *NW_SERVER for IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Netware.
When you assign one of these managed system lists to a situation, policy, query or
custom Navigator, all managed systems of that type are selected.

You cannot edit or delete a predefined managed system list.

Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server

The Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server managed system lists can be applied at the
Enterprise level of the Navigator Physical view and anywhere in a custom
Navigator view:

*ALL_CMS for the hub monitoring server and any remote monitoring servers

*EIB or *HUB for the hub monitoring server.

Create a managed system list

1. Select Managed System Lists from the Edit menu.
2. Select the managed system type.
3. Click New Managed System List.
4. Type a descriptive name for the managed system list and click OK.
The new managed system list appears in the managed system folder.
5. Select a managed system from the Available Managed Systems list and click
to add it to the Assigned list.
You can select multiple managed systems by holding down Ctrl while clicking
each managed system; -OR- after selecting a managed system, use Shift+click to
select all managed systems between this and the first selection.
6. Save your changes and either keep the editor open with Apply or exit with
OK.

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The managed system list is now available to users whose portal server connects
to the same hub monitoring server.

Copy, edit, or delete a managed system list

1. Select Managed System Lists from the Edit menu.
2. Click Expand to expand a managed system folder.
3. Select the managed system list and do one of the following:
v To copy the list, click Create Another Managed System List, type a
descriptive name for the managed system list and click OK.
v To edit the list, remove an entry from the Assigned list by selecting it and
clicking , add a managed system to the list by selecting it in the Available
Managed Systems list and clicking .
v To delete the list, click Delete Managed System List.
4. Save your changes and either keep the editor open with Apply or exit with
OK.

Improving Performance

One data sampling for multiple situations

You can improve performance overhead on your system when multiple situations
are defined against the same attribute group.
Table 4. Criteria for Combining Situations in One Data Sampling
Situation Definition Permissible or
Required
Same attribute group required Yes
Same time interval required Yes
Can be restarted Yes
Must be autostarted Exception: UADVISOR situations cannot have Yes
autostart set to SYN
New/Update situation supported Yes

Note: The monitoring server must be recycled

Until clauses permitted No
Combine situations with different distribution lists Yes
Display Item (atomize) supported No
Take Action allowed No
Maximum of 1020 characters (bytes) for the formula, including the Yes
detailed name of the attribute group and attributes.
Can use Check for Missing Items (MISSING) function No
Can be used in a policy No
Can use Return a subset of the string (STR) or Scan for string No
within a string (SCAN) function
Can use group functions: Average (AVG); Count (COUNT); No
Maximum (MAX); Minimum (MIN); Sum (SUM)
Event persistent situations permitted No

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Conclusion
This chapter showed how IBM Tivoli Monitoring monitors managed systems by
gathering data samples from the attributes for comparing to situations. You learned
how to set up situations and optimize them to minimize their use of network
resources.

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Chapter 11. Policies for automation

Introduction
This chapter describes how to use the Workflows window to create and manage
policies.

Overview
Automation can improve the efficiency of systems management by reducing user
workload and errors, and by allowing users to respond more quickly to problems.
Tivoli Enterprise Portal provides two levels of automation, reflex and advanced.

Reflex automation – situation with action

Reflex automation provides simple automated system actions. It allows you to
monitor a condition on a particular system and to specify a command to execute
there. The command can be a single action or a script of commands. Tivoli
Enterprise Portal receives no feedback after it sends the command or notifies the
user.

For example, suppose your UNIX system has been plagued by insufficient
memory. You are not certain your system really needs more memory resources;
maybe a poorly designed application or process is causing the problem. You want
to gather system data to analyze the cause without allocating personnel to do it.
With simple automation, you can monitor excessive page-ins and page faults
(indicating a memory bottleneck) and, when either occurs, write the process name
and ID to a log for analysis.

Advanced automation – policy

Advanced automation allows you to implement more complex workflow strategies
than you can create through simple automation. Advanced automation uses
policies to perform actions, schedule work, and automate manual tasks.

A policy comprises a series of automated steps called activities and are connected
to create a workflow.

After an activity is completed, Tivoli Enterprise Portal receives return code

feedback and advanced automation logic responds with subsequent activities
prescribed by the feedback.

For example, suppose you want to reduce the time operators spend responding to
high system CPU usage. Using advanced automation, you can
v create a situation to monitor for average system CPU usage of 95% and, when it
occurs, reduce the priority of jobs using more than 20% of CPU
v issue a command that might correct the problem
v re-evaluate system CPU usage to determine whether an action taken corrected a
problem
v if the problem persists, notify the operator responsible for monitoring the health
of the system using email, text messaging, or voice mail.

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Many monitoring agents provide predefined policies that you can use as is or
modify for your own environment.

Policy logic
The workflow elements—activities and connectors ( )—are represented in the
Grapher view much as they would be in a flow chart: Some activities flow directly
to the next activity, while others branch off depending on the result of the previous
activity.

Types of activities:
v Predecessor activities directly precede other activities; successor activities directly
follow other activities. They act on the basis of the endcode of their predecessor.
v Parallel activities run at the same time.
v Sequential activities run one at a time in succession.

When an activity ends, it returns an endcode. Endcodes control the flow of

activities in a policy.

A policy begins by waiting for a situation to become true, then starts a series of
actions. The simplest policy will

Wait until a situation is true take some action

or

Wait until a situation is true evaluate another situation take some action

The following is an example of a simple policy:

Wait for CPU_>=_95 situation evaluate Process_CPU_>_20 situation and, if

true, perform a command to reduce the priority of each offending job

Planning
Before starting, determine what the policy should do, where it should operate, and
what situations you need to use in the policy. It is important to have a clear picture
of the application being automated, which managed systems constitute the
application, how those systems are physically related and to which monitoring
server they are connected.

Creating a policy
Use policies to perform actions, schedule work, and to automate manual tasks on
one or more managed systems in your enterprise. The Workflows window shows
all the policies available in your enterprise and lets you start or stop a policy,
create new policies, and edit or delete them.

The basic steps in building and running a policy involve:

1. Adding a new policy and specifying its distribution
2. Adding activities to the policy, then connecting them to make the workflow
3. Validating the workflow logic and saving the policy
4. Starting the policy

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If you do not see the Workflows tool, your user ID does not have View Policy
permission.

A. Add a new policy

The first step in creating a policy is to add a new policy, name it and adjust any
settings.

1. Click Workflow Editor.

2. Click New Policy (or Alt+ New Policy to keep the full Policies Details
area open).
New_Policy is added to the Policy Details list and a blank Grapher view opens
in the Workflow editor for you to add and connect activities.
To enlarge the Grapher view, click to collapse the Policy Details and expand
the Workflow Editor area to full window; click to restore the Policies Details
area. You can also drag the border up or down.
3. In the newly added row, edit the name and description, then distribute the
policy. Leave the other items at their default settings or adjust as needed:
Policy name Click inside this field and type up to 32 letters and numbers,
with no spaces or special characters other than underscore (_).
Use Backspace and Delete to erase text to the left or right.
Note that you cannot rename the policy once it has been saved
with Apply or OK. Instead, you must copy the policy and
change the name for the new policy.
Distributed
Check this box to open the Change Policy Distribution window,
then select the managed system(s) on which the policy should
run. You can distribute a policy before or after it is saved, and
change the distribution list at any time.
If Correlate by is set to Business Application (on page 146), no
individual managed systems are shown; only managed system
lists. Select one from the Available Managed System Lists.
Auto start When checked, starts the policy automatically when it is saved
and whenever the monitoring server is restarted. Uncheck if
you prefer to start the policy manually.
Save Results
When checked, saves the results data internally. You can save
results data only to policies that contain a user choice activity.
The results display in the Candle Management Workstation.
(See “Saving activity results” on page 162.)
Correlate by Specifies how the policy is processed: by host name, which is
the default; host address; business application; or with no
correlation at all.
Host Name, the default mode, maintains separate paths of
execution for each host where one or more different managed
systems are running. If the host name for two different
managed systems is the same, both managed systems will take
the same path through the policy. For each distinct path, the
policy waits for data from, or executes programs on, the same
host that started that path of execution.

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Host Address works identically to Host Name except it

identifies the managed systems by their host address instead of
host name. Host Address is typically used only if the Policy
cannot execute when it references the Host Name (on page
148.)
Business Application identifies the managed systems for
processing by their managed system list name. This mode is
used to combine disparate agent types. The policy maintains
separate paths of execution for each managed system list to
which the policy is distributed.
Uncorrelated, which is not normally used, takes one path
through the policy for all managed systems to which the policy
is distributed. No attempt is made to correlate data from
different managed systems as one activity terminates and
subsequent activities are started.
See also “Correlation mode” on page 162.
Limit restarts
Left unchecked, this specifies no limitation on the number of
times the policy can begin running again. When checked, stops
the policy after it has executed five times in a 24-hour period.
This item is enabled when Restart is checked.
Restart Starts the policy again after the last activity finishes executing.
When unchecked, stops the policy after the last activity finishes
executing until it is started again manually or, if you have Auto
Start enabled, the next time the policy is saved or the
monitoring server is recycled.
Description Shows the description for the policy. Click inside this field and
edit the text as needed, using Backspace and Delete to erase
text to the left or right.

B. Add and connect activities

After creating the policy, add activities and connect them to construct the event
workflow.

1. In the Workflow editor, click Wait until a situation is True in the General
activities tab.
The policy must begin with this activity type unless it is uncorrelated, in which
case you can start with any activity.
2. Click inside the Grapher view to place the activity icon.
The Select a Situation window opens for you to select a situation that, when
true or in error, triggers the next activity in the workflow.
3. Select the situation and click OK.
The activity icon displays with the name of the situation. If you do not see the
situation in the list, click Cancel and create the situation you need. Then repeat
these steps.
4. Add other activities to the policy. (See “General activities” on page 156.)
You can have activities running sequentially or in parallel.
5. Draw connecting lines to direct the workflow: Click Connect, then click
inside one activity and again inside the one that follows.

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The Select a link condition window opens with a list of possible conditions that
will execute the next activity. When you join activities with the Connect tool,
you assign an endcode to each connection. An endcode indicates the result of
activity processing and control the flow of activities in a policy.
6. Select the result that will trigger the next activity, then click OK.
The completion of one activity starts the execution of the next activity based on
the link condition chosen here. If, for example, you connect a Wait until a
situation is True activity to a Take action or Write message activity, and
choose Situation is true as the condition, the Take action or Write message
activity begins executing as soon as the situation becomes true.
Every activity type except Suspend execution gives you multiple conditions
from which to choose. You can create an activity for each one of these
conditions and connect to each of them from the source activity.
After you click OK, the connector line points to the target activity.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 to connect the remaining activities.
Double-click Connect to keep it on until you select another activity or
Select. After drawing a connector line, you will notice a thin black line
between the two activities. The line disappears when you draw the next
connector line or turn off the tool.
While Connect is active, every mouse movement in the Grapher view draws
the connector line. Right-click if you want to stop drawing temporarily. As soon
as you click an activity in the Grapher view again, the tool will be reactivated
and you can continue to draw. Also, you can click Undo to cancel the last
change(s) you made.

C. Validate the workflow logic and save the policy

1. When you have finished adding activities and connecting them, click
Validate to check the logic flow.
If you get an error message, you will need to fix the problem before you can
save the policy. An invalid activity is indicated by: the border changing from
magenta to black, the label changing from black to red, the shape changing
from rounded rectangle to rectangle, and the tool tip changes to the last error
that applies to the activity.
2. When you are finished creating the policy, click Apply to save the changes and
continue working with policies; -OR- click OK to save the changes and close
the window.
The policy is stored at and controlled by the monitoring server to which the
monitoring agent is connected, either a remote or the hub.

Tip:: To keep an activity tool on for adding to multiple locations, double-click

the tool. It will remain enabled until you click the mouse back in the
General or Emitter activities frame.

D. Start the policy

If you accepted the default setting of Auto start, the policy will start running as
soon as it has been saved, and you can bypass these steps.
1. Select the policy in the Policy Details list.
2. If you have not yet distributed the policy to the managed systems where it will
run, check Distributed and select them, then click Apply.
3. Click Start Policy to start the policy.

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When the first situation in the policy fires, the activities begin to execute and
continue until they have all completed or until you click Stop Policy. If you
enabled Restart, the policy begins again (waits for the first situation to
become true again)

Troubleshooting
No distribution may cause an error
If the policy has not been distributed to any managed system connected to the
monitoring server where the policy is started, you may get an error. The error
indicates that the situation (in Wait until a situation is True) is not defined on the
monitoring server and the policy will not run, which is a correct assessment.

However, if the Wait until a situation is True activity has been distributed to that
monitoring server’s managed systems at a prior time, the situation’s definition will
still be found at the monitoring server and the policy will start successfully and
wait indefinitely for the Wait until a situation is True activity.

Thus, if a policy is not progressing from a Wait until a situation is True activity,
make sure that the situation has been distributed to a managed system connected
to the monitoring server.

Activities do not execute

You have successfully validated and started a policy, and an event has opened for
the situation, but activities do not begin to execute. The problem may solved by
changing Correlate by from Host Name to Host Address.

IBM Tivoli Monitoring products have an identifier for each managed system that
includes the host name and product code separated by a colon (:), such as
Primary:TIVOLIUSER:NT for IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Windows on the machine
named TIVOLIUSER. Some monitoring agents follow a naming scheme not
recognized by the monitoring server, such as MYSYSTEM::MQ. Such managed
systems referenced in the policy require that it be correlated by the host address
rather than the host name.

Maintaining policies
Use the Workflows window to edit, copy, delete, start, and stop policies. You can
have multiple policies open in the Workflow editor at the same time, with each
policy in a separate Grapher view.

Another window is also available that lists all the policies distributed to a
managed system and options to start, stop, or edit the selected policy (or policies).
It is the Manage Policies at Managed System window and is accessed from the
Navigator pop-up menu.

For you to edit, copy or delete a policy, your user ID must have Modify Policy
permission. For you to stop or start a policy, your user ID must have Start/Stop
Policy permission.

Editing a policy
You can select the policy you want to edit from either the Workflow editor or the
Manage Policy at Managed System window. The policy workflow opens in the
Grapher view of the Workflow editor.

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Editing a policy: Workflows editor

When you open the Workflows editor for editing policies, you have all the
predefined and custom policies on your managed network to choose from.
1. If the Workflows window is not open, click Workflow Editor.
2. In Policy Details, click in the row of the policy you want to change, then edit
the cells as needed.
As soon as you make a change, Undo is enabled. Click it if you want to
undo the changes made so far to this policy’s settings.

3. Click Edit Workflow to open the policy in the Workflow editor.

4. In the Grapher view, edit the activities as needed:
v To edit an activity, double-click it.
v To delete an activity or connector, select it and click Clear. You can also
use Shift+click to select multiple activities, or use click and drag to select a
rectangular area.
v To copy an activity, select it, click Copy. Point to where you want to copy
it in this or another policy open in the work area, and click Paste. You can
also use Shift+click to select multiple activities or use click and drag to select
a rectangular area.
v To move an activity, select it, click Cut, then point to where you want to
move it in this or another policy open in the work area, and click Paste.
You can also use Shift+click to select multiple activities or use click and drag
to select a rectangular area.
v To add an activity, click its icon in the Workflow components frame, then
click inside the Grapher view.
v To connect an activity, click Connect, then drag from the source activity to
the target and click.
v To restore the Policy Details area, click t; to collapse it, click .
5. When you have finished editing, if Validate is enabled, click it to confirm the
logic flow.
If there are errors, fix them as indicated in the message, then Validate again.
6. When you are finished editing, click Apply to save your changes and continue
working with policies; -OR- click OK to save your changes and close the
window.
If the policy is set to Auto start, it will start automatically; if not, you will
need to click Start Policy.

Editing a policy: Manage Policy at Managed System window

When you open the Manage Policy at Managed System window to select a policy
for editing, you see the policies that are distributed to the managed system.
Although you open the window from the Navigator item of a specific managed
system, the changes you make to the policy are effective for all managed systems
to which it is distributed.

1. Right-click an agent Navigator item and select Manage Policies.

2. Select the policy to edit and click Edit Workflow.
You can use Ctrl+click to select additional policies or Shift+click to select all
policies between and including the first selection and this one.
3. In Policy Details, click in the row of the policy you want to change, then edit
the cells as needed.

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As soon as you make a change, Undo is enabled. Click it if you want to

undo the changes made so far to this policy’s settings.
4. In the Grapher view, edit the workflow activities:
v To edit an activity, double-click it.
v To delete an activity or connector, select it and click Clear. You can also use
Shift+click to select multiple activities, or use click and drag to select a
rectangular area.
v To copy an activity, select it, click Copy. Point to where you want to copy
it in this or another policy open in the work area, and click Paste. You can
also use Shift+click to select multiple activities or use click and drag to select
a rectangular area.
v To move an activity, select it, click Cut, then point to where you want to
move it in this or another policy open in the work area, and click Paste.
You can also use Shift+click to select multiple activities or use click and drag
to select a rectangular area.
v To add an activity, click its icon in the Workflow components frame, then
click inside the Grapher view.
v To connect an activity, click Connect, then drag from the source activity to
the target and click.
v To restore the Policy Details area, click t; to collapse it, click .
5. When you have finished editing, if Validate is enabled, click it to confirm the
logic flow.
If there are errors, fix them as indicated in the message, then Validate again.
6. When you are finished editing, click Apply to save your changes and continue
working with policies; -OR- click OK to save your changes and close the
window.
If the policy is set to Auto start, it will start automatically; if not, you will
need to click Start Policy .

Copying a policy
You can create a new policy by copying an existing policy. When you create a new
policy in this way, the workflow and the distribution of the originating policy are
copied to the new policy in addition to the other features of the originating policy.
1. If the Workflows window is not open, click Workflows.
2. Select the policy you want to copy and click Copy.
A new row is added to the list and the policy titled, Copy_of_name, where
name is the name of the original policy.
3. Click inside the Policy name field and change the name.
Once the policy is saved, you will not be able to rename it.
4. Change any other settings in the Policy Details area.
5. If you want to edit the policy workflow, continue with the instructions in
“Editing a policy”.

Deleting a policy
1. If the Workflows window is not open, click Workflows.
2. In the Policy Details area, select the policy you want to delete.
3. Click Delete Policy.

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The policy is deleted from the list. If it was running at the time, it stops; if it
was in the middle of executing an activity, that activity will complete.

Starting or stopping a policy

You may have a policy that you want to run for only short periods of time. Or you
may want to stop a policy and restart it so that changes you made to it will take
effect immediately. You can select the policy from the Workflow editor, where you
can see all policies in your managed network, or from the Manage Policy at
Managed System window, where you see only the policies that have been
distributed to a particular managed system.

Starting or stopping a policy: Workflow editor

When you start or stop a policy in the Workflow editor, you have all the
predefined and custom policies on your managed network to choose from.

1. Click WorkflowsWorkflows to open the Workflows window.

2. In Policy Details, select the policy you want to start or stop.
You can use Ctrl+click to select additional policies or Shift+click to select all
policies between and including the first selection and this one.
3. Click Start Policy or Stop Policy.
4. When a message asks you to specify the TEMS list on which to start or stop the
policy, select the monitoring server (or servers) and click Start or Stop.
See “Notes.”

Starting or stopping a policy: Manage Policies at Managed

System window
When you start or stop a policy in the Manage Policy at Managed System window,
you see the policies that are distributed to the managed system. Although you
open the window from the Navigator item of a specific managed system, the
policy is started or stopped on all managed systems to which it is distributed.
1. Right-click an agent Navigator item and select Manage Policies.
2. Select the policy to start or stop.
You can use Ctrl+click to select additional policies or Shift+click to select all
policies between and including the first selection and this one. You can also
click Select All for all the policies in the list.
3. Click Start Policy or Stop Policy.
4. When a message asks you to specify the TEMS list on which to start or stop the
policy, select the monitoring server (or servers) and click Start or Stop.
See “Notes.”
5. Click Refresh to refresh the view and see your changes.

Notes
When you start a policy, it starts on the managed systems to which it is distributed
on the selected monitoring server (or servers). All the situations within the policy
are also started or restarted.

When you stop a policy, if it was in the middle of executing an activity, that
activity will complete. Policies are stored at and controlled by the monitoring
server to which the managed system connects. The policy will remain stopped
until you start it again manually or, if it is set to Auto Start, until you next edit the
policy or restart the monitoring server.

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A workflow can involve many activities and can be in various states for different
monitoring agents. Stopping or restarting a policy causes those states to be lost.
You can choose to start or stop a policy on all monitoring agents to which it is
distributed or, if your configuration includes a remove monitoring server, on all
agents on a particular monitoring server. With this added control, you can
configure your enterprise in such a way that automation can be stopped for agents
that, say, are monitoring sub-systems that are undergoing maintenance.

Workflows window
All your work with policies is done in the Workflows window, which you open by
clicking Workflows. The window has two parts:
v Policy Details, which lists all the policies stored on the hub monitoring server
and any remote monitoring servers, and has a toolbar for creating and managing
policies.
v Workflow Editor for selecting, arranging and connecting activities to complete the
policy workflow.

Policy Details
The Policy Details area has tools for working with the list of policies displayed.

Toolbar
If none of the tools is available, your user ID does not have Modify Policy
permission; if, after you select a policy, the Start and Stop tools both remain
dimmed, your user ID does not have Start/Stop Policy permission.

Start Policy
Starts the selected policy (or policies) on the managed systems to which it
is distributed.

Stop Policy
Stops running the selected policy (or policies). If the workflow activities
are currently executing, processing stops after the current activity is
completed.

New Policy
Adds a new row to the Policy list, partially collapses the Policy Details
area to show only the new policy, and expands the Workflow Editor area
so you can build the workflow. You can restore the policy list with and
collapse it with , or drag the border up or down. Initially, the policy is
named and described as New_Policy. Click inside the field to change the
name. Use the Delete or Backspace key to erase to the right or left of the
cursor.
If you prefer to keep the Policies Details area open when you create a new
policy, use Alt+ New Policy.

Copy Policy
Copies the selected policy. A new row is added to the list, the Policy
Details area collapses, and the Workflow Editor area expands to the full
window so you can build the workflow. You can manually restore the
policy list with and collapse it with . Initially, the policy is given the
same name as the original, but prefixed with Copy_of_. In the Policy
Details area, click inside the Name field to change the name; use Delete or

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Backspace to erase to the right or left of the cursor. To keep the Policies
Details area open when you copy the policy, use Alt+ Copy Policy.

Delete Policy
Deletes the selected policy.

Refresh List
If any policies have been added, edited, or deleted by other users in your
Tivoli managed network, you can refresh the Policies list to show the
changes.

Policy list
Undo Click this tool to undo your changes to the policy
in this row.

Edit Workflow Click this tool to open the policy in the Workflow
editor for viewing and editing the workflow
components. When you do, the Policies Details
area partially collapses to show only the policy you
selected and the Workflow Editor area expands. If
you prefer to keep the Policies Details area open,
use Alt+ instead. You can manually restore the
policy list with and collapse it with .
Policy name The name of the policy, up to 32 letters and
numbers, with no spaces or special characters other
than the underscore (_). Click inside this field and
edit the text as needed, using Backspace and Delete
to erase text to the left or right.
You cannot rename the policy once it has been
saved with Apply or OK. Instead, copy the policy
and change the name for the new policy in the
Policy Details area.
Distributed Specifies where the policy is to be distributed and
run. When you check this box, the Change Policy
Distribution window opens with a list of the
available managed systems to which you can
assign the policy.
If Correlate by is set to Business Application, no
individual managed systems are shown; only
managed system lists. You must select one from the
Available Managed System Lists.
Auto start When selected, starts the policy automatically
when it is saved and when the monitoring server
starts up. Disable Auto start if you prefer to start
the policy manually.
Save Results When selected, saves the results data internally.
You can save results data only to policies that
contain a user choice activity. The results display in
the Candle Management Workstation. (See “Saving
activity results” on page 162.)
Correlate by Specifies how the policy is processed: by host

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name, which is the default; host address; business

application; or with no correlation at all.
Host Name, the default mode, maintains separate
paths of execution for each host where one or more
different managed systems are running. If the host
name for two different managed systems is the
same, both managed systems will take the same
path through the policy. For each distinct path, the
policy waits for data from, or executes programs
on, the same host that started that path of
execution.
Host Address works identically to Host Name
except it identifies the managed systems by their
host address instead of host name. It is typically
used only if the Policy cannot execute when it
references the Host Name.
Business Application identifies the managed
systems for processing by their managed system
list name. This mode is used to combine disparate
agent types. The policy maintains separate paths of
execution for each managed system list to which
the policy is distributed.
Uncorrelated, which is not normally used, takes
one path through the policy for all managed
systems to which the policy is distributed. No
attempt is made to correlate data from different
managed systems as one activity terminates and
subsequent activities are started.
See also “Correlation mode” on page 162.
Limit restarts Left disabled, this option specifies no limitation on
the number of times the policy can begin running
again. When selected, stops the policy after it has
executed five times in a 24-hour period.
This field is available only when Restart is checked.
Restart Starts the policy again after the last activity finishes
executing. When unchecked, it stops the policy
after the last activity finishes executing until it is
started again manually (see Starting or stopping a
policy) or, if you have Auto start enabled, the next
time the policy is saved or the monitoring server
on which it is running recycled.
Description This is the description for the policy. Click inside
this field and edit the text as needed, using
Backspace and Delete to erase text to the left or
right.
Version This is the version of the hub monitoring server.
Modified by This is the user ID of the person who most recently
edited the policy.
Modified date This is the time and date the policy was last edited.

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Workflow editor
When you select a policy and click Edit Workflow, a Grapher view pane opens in
the Workflow editor so you can see and edit the policy activities. You can open
multiple policies in the Workflow editor, each in its own pane. This area of the
Policy editor has a:
v toolbar
v tabs for General activities, Extensions and Emitter activities in the Workflow
components frame on the left
v work area on the right where you add and connect activities in a Grapher view

Borders
The border between the Workflow Editor and Policy Details has to expand the
Workflow Editor area to the top of the window, and to restore the policy list and
return the editor to its former size. The border between the Workflow components
and the work Grapher view has to expand the work area to the width of the
window, and to restore the Workflow components and return the work area to its
previous width.

Toolbar
Validate Tests the workflow to ensure it was composed logically. Any errors
are reported in a Workflow Definition Error message and you will
not be able to save the policy until they are fixed and the
workflow passes validation.
The message supplies the activity ID in brackets, which appears in
a flyover description when you move the mouse pointer over an
activity; followed by the name and the error message.
Cut Remove a section (one or more activities and connectors) from a
workflow and store it in the clipboard for pasting into a different
workflow.
Copy Copy the selected activities for pasting into this or into a different
workflow.
Paste Paste the contents of the clipboard into the current workflow.
Clear Remove the selected activities from the workflow.
Undo Undo the last action (or actions if you continue to click).
Redo Redo the previous action.
________________
___________________________________________________
Select Selection mode. This is a toggle tool: click it again to turn off
selection. Use the Select tool to drag an activity into position or to
select it for removal. You can click and drag from one point to the
opposite corner to select a group of activities, or use Shift+click to
select multiple activities individually.
Perform Node Layout
Reposition the activities in a policy. Automatically lay out the
workflow from left to right using an algorithm that minimizes
connector crossings.
Actual size Returns the view to normal sizing. Used after zooming.

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Fit to contents
Re-scales the view so all activities are visible. This is useful when
you have added or removed activities.
ZoomIn Enlarge the image size on the policy Grapher view.
ZoomOut Reduce the image size on the policy Grapher view.
Zoom Box Select an area to zoom into and the view will expand or contract to
fit.
Pan Select the entire policy and to move it around the Grapher view.

General activities
The general activities appear in the first tab of the Workflow Components area.
The lists the general activities:

Wait until a situation is True

Wait until a situation is True opens a list of the situations distributed on your
managed network. When you select a situation and click OK, a representative
object appears in the grapher view with the name of the situation. When the policy
encounters this object in the workflow, it suspends execution until the situation is
true. You then need to add an activity to perform when the situation fires.

End code choices for starting the next activity:

Situation is true
The condition described by the situation is currently true.
Error The activity failed to complete successfully. The reason could be
that a referenced object does not exist or a command returned an
error status from the operating system.

Evaluate a situation now

Evaluate a situation now examine the status of an existing situation. Select a
situation from the scroll box that displays after you drop the activity into the
Graphic view. Click OK to confirm your selection. Note that the evaluation interval
is based on the monitoring interval of the selected situation. See also “Return
codes” on page 160.

End code choices for starting the next activity:

Situation is true
The condition described by the situation is currently true.
Situation is false
The condition described by the situation is currently not true.
Error The activity failed to complete successfully. The reason could be
that a referenced object does not exist or a command returned an
error status from the operating system.

Start or stop a policy

Start or stop a policy is used to to stop another policy from running while the
current policy is executing. You can also use it to start another policy while the
current policy is executing.

End code choices for starting the next activity:

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Policy started The policy has been started.

Error The activity failed to complete successfully. The referenced object
may not exist or a command returned an error status.

Start or stop a situation

Start or stop a situation is used to stop a situation from running while the
current policy is executing. You can also use it to start another situation while the
current policy is executing.

End code choices for starting the next activity:

Situation started
The situation is currently running.
Error The activity failed to complete successfully. The referenced object
may not exist or a command returned an error status.

Suspend execution
Suspend execution has you specify a unit of time, expressed in seconds, that
you want a policy to wait before proceeding. This is a useful feature if, for
example, you issued a command, and you want to give it time to complete before
continuing to run the policy.

End code for starting the next activity:

Resume The time period to wait before resuming execution of the policy.

Take action or Write message

Take action or Write a message issues a system command from a policy or
generates a universal message that can be viewed at the universal message console
view (“Universal message console” on page 173).

End code choices for starting the next activity:

Error The activity failed to complete successfully. The reason could be
that a referenced object does not exist or a command returned an
error status from the operating system.
Action succeeded
The action completed without errors.

Make a Choice
Available only in environments that include the Candle Management
Workstation

This activity opens the User Choice Settings window for you to write a message
and assign it to a work group to notify operators that manual intervention is
required. When the activity executes, users in the work group see the message and
are prompted make a choice. Escalate or timeout after 5 minutes is the default wait
period before timeout occurs.

Every group is the default work group, which means all users connected to the
monitoring server will receive the message. The User Choice Settings window lists
any work groups that were created in the Candle Management Workstation.

End code choices for starting the next activity: Timeout; Choice.

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Connect

Use this tool to add connecting lines from one activity to the next to direct the
workflow of the policy.

You can have a single connector from an activity, and you can have multiple
connectors from an activity so long as each connector links to a separate activity.
Multiple connectors from an activity are processed using AND logic.

When you join activities using the Connector tool, you assign an endcode to each
connection. As you click and drag from one activity to the next one in succession,
a window opens from which you select a link condition. Listed are the possible
conditions (end codes) resulting from the source activity that will invoke the target
activity. For example, if you are connecting a Wait until a situation is True activity,
and choose Situation is true as the link condition, the target activity will begin
executing when the situation becomes true.

Extensions
The Extensions tab has the following activities.

Wait until a situation is false

Wait until a situation is False waits for the situation state to change from true
back to false, which causes the open event to close. The event closes automatically
when the agent is next sampled (determined by the situation’s sampling interval)
and the condition is no longer true.

Wait until a situation is false is useful for policies that you want to repeat when
the situation state returns to false. An example would be a policy that uses an
emitter activity to generate a trouble ticket when CPU activity is high. If this
condition continues across beyond the 30-minute sampling interval, a new trouble
ticket is generated every 30 minutes. To prevent this from happening, you can add
a Wait until a situation is false activity to the end of the workflow, so the policy
does not restart until the situation has gone to false, then true again.

This activity does not apply to events that were closed manually. (See “Closing an
event” on page 138.)

End code choices for starting the next activity:

Situation is false
The condition described by the situation is currently not true.
Error The activity failed to complete successfully.

Emitter activities
When your Tivoli Monitoring Services managed network includes an IBM Tivoli
Alert Adapter or IBM Tivoli Alert Manager, this tab shows the emitter activities
available for these products. Emitter activities are used to forward situation events
to Tivoli management products and to third-party party management products.

For more information on the parameters for the emitter activity, click Help in the
Emitter Settings window and refer to the documentation for your alert adapter or
alert manager product and for the management product targeted.

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Activity Description
ITO Event IBM Tivoli OMEGAMON Alert Manager for HP OpenView
IT/Operations.
NetView Event IBM Tivoli Alert Adapter for TME 10 Netview.
OpenView Event IBM Tivoli OMEGAMON Alert Manager for HP Openview
NNM.
Peregrine Ticket IBM Tivoli Alert Adapter for Peregrine ServiceCenter.
Remedy Ticket IBM Tivoli Alert Adapter for Remedy ARS.
SNMP Event This activity is for the SNMP Gateway on Windows, available
with the Universal Agent. It enables you to send any SNMP
event to an SNMP manager.
TEC Event IBM Tivoli Alert Manager for Tivoli/Enterprise Console; IBM
Tivoli Alert Adapter for Tivoli/Enterprise Console.

You can also integrate situation events with Tivoli Enterprise

Console events and work with them in the Tivoli Enterprise
Console view. See Chapter 9, “Tivoli Enterprise Console event
viewer,” on page 107.
Use the Connector tool to add connecting lines between the
activity icons to control the workflow of the policy.
Connector
You can have a single connector from an activity, and you can
have multiple connectors from an activity so long as each
connector links to a separate activity. Multiple connectors from an
activity are processed using AND logic.

When joining activities with the Connector tool, you assign an

end code to each connection. Emitter activities can generate the
following end codes:

Error indicates the emitter activity failed to complete successfully.

The reason might be that a referenced object does not exist or a
command returned an error status from the operating system.

Data emitted means that the data generated by the activity was
emitted successfully to the application.

Emitter activity error messages

Activity Definition Error: No emitter targets found for emitter type
<Emitter_Name>

This message appears if there are no emitters running on your managed network.

An <Emitter_Name> emitter activity requires situation attributes. Please first

add one or more situation activities to the workflow.

This message appears when no situation activities have been added. Add a
Wait until a situation is True or Evaluate a situation now activity to the
view.

Notes
This section has additional information and special considerations for setting up
policies.

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Return codes
When you specify a Evaluate a situation now activity, you may receive one of the
following return codes:
v 861
This return code is received when an evaluated situation’s rule definition does
not exist on the monitoring server to which the monitoring agent that is the
target of the situation is attached.
While the default setting for an evaluated situation is Activate at startup, it is
possible that you have changed this setting. The rule is created the first time the
situation is started on the subject monitoring server. To correct the problem,
manually restart the situation being evaluated.
v 1191
This return code is received when the connection between a monitoring server
on which a policy is running and a remote monitoring server that is the target of
an evaluated situation is invalid.
This is caused by the remote TEMS having been recycled since the connection
was established. The next Evaluate request causes the connection to be
established. This and any subsequent requests will succeed. No user intervention
is required.

Using event persistent situations in policies

For an event persistent situation, you specify the number of consecutive times an
event must occur before it is considered true. (See Advanced options on page 126.)
The following rules apply when you use event persistent situations in policies:
v The policy will run the situation and, after the event persists (the persistent
situation evaluates to true), the next policy activity will execute.
v Once the persistence threshold is met, the policy will cycle repeatedly until the
situation becomes false. The persistence threshold must then be met before the
policy cycles again.
v If the policy is set to restart, the activity following the situation will re-execute
after each situation monitor interval.
For example, the situation’s monitor interval is set for 1 minute and event
persistence is set for 5 consecutive true intervals. When the policy starts, it takes
5 minutes before the policy can consider the situation true and execute any other
activities. If the policy cycles, the activities following the situation will execute
every minute while the situation is true.
v If you have a Navigator item currently tracking true events for the situation and
you then add this situation in a policy, when you start the policy it will use the
same count of consecutive true events as the Navigator item.
For example, you have a Navigator item monitoring true events for a situation
with event persistence set for 5 consecutive true intervals and the count of
consecutive true events is currently 3. You then add this situation to a policy.
When you start the policy, the policy uses the count of consecutive true events
of 3, continues to increment, and when it reaches 5 executes the remaining
activities in the policy.
v If you have a Navigator item that shows an event (consecutive true intervals
have already occurred for an event persistent situation) and you then add this
situation to a policy, when you start the policy it will immediately execute the
activities following the situation.

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SOAP commands
When using a soap: command in a policy, the policy must be configured to run at
the monitoring server. See “Tivoli Enterprise Web Services” in the IBM Tivoli
Monitoring Administrator’s Guide.

User choice activities

Policies with Make a choice activities request user intervention and place the
policy in a wait state. Once the user choice activity starts, a work list item is
generated and sent to a work group.

Policies can specify user choice activities to request user intervention. When a user
choice activity within a policy starts, a work item is generated for a work group,
and the work item appears on a work list of all Candle Management Workstation
operators who belong to that workgroup. In addition, a notification is displayed on
each operator workstation.

In Tivoli Enterprise Portal, there is a default work group called Every group. All
users connected to the monitoring server will receive the message. Although there
is no facility for creating other work groups, the User Choice Settings window lists
any work groups that were created in the Candle Management Workstation.

Understanding the TIMEOUT condition

You can specify TIMEOUT as a condition on a user choice activity. The user choice
activity requests intervention and places the policy in a wait state. When you add
a user choice activity to a policy, you specify an escalation period and, optionally,
an escalation group.

When the user choice activity starts, a work list item is generated. If the item is not
responded to within the escalation period, and if an escalation group was
specified, the work item is deleted from the current work group’s work list and
another work item is generated for the escalation group. If no escalation group was
specified, or if the work item is escalated but still not responded to within the
escalation period, the user choice activity times out.

You can provide a default path that this policy should take if a time-out occurs, by
joining the user choice activity to any other activity using a connector line with a
type of TIMEOUT. If no such path exists, the policy will either stop or will restart
from the beginning (depending on the setting for Restart) when the work item
times out.

Work groups, work items, and work lists

A work group is a way to organize users so that they can respond to a request from
a policy for user intervention. In the Candle Management Workstation, after you
register users to the Candle Management Server, you can divide the users into
work groups based on similar responsibilities and expertise. When you set up a
policy that requires user intervention, you can specify the name of the work group
that is to respond to the policy’s request for intervention.

A work item is the request that a policy sends to a work group requesting user
intervention. A work item appears on a work list.

A work list is a collection of work items. Every user has a work list. Anyone in a
work group can respond to a work item in their list. A user’s work list contains all
of the work items for all of the work groups to which they belong.

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Work group members can also manually transfer a work item to another work
group. Work items can have only one escalation, but an unlimited number of
transfers.

When you set up a work group, you assign a default escalation work group. If no
one in the work group responds to the work item within a specified period of
time, the work item automatically escalates to the default escalation work group.

For example, suppose you create a policy called “CPU_High” that detects when a
job is using too much CPU, and then sends a work item to a work group asking
that someone hold or end the job. In the Candle Management Workstation, you
also create a work group called ABC that responds to work items that deal with
excessive system resource, and you assign users X, Y, and Z to the work group.
When policy “CPU_High” detects that a job is using too much CPU, a work item
is sent to work group ABC. This work item is placed on the work lists for users X,
Y, and Z. Any of these users can respond to the work item after which it is deleted
from every user’s work list.

Saving activity results

When a work item is opened in the Candle Management Workstation, an
Activities button displays the time and reason that each activity started, along
with the time and return code of each activity that terminated. If a Wait until a
situation is True activity terminates normally or an Evaluate a situation now
activity terminates with TRUE, the situation data can be reviewed if Save Results
was checked.

Correlation mode
The following are examples of the policy correlation modes. Policies correlated by
host name or host address correlate data from different types of managed systems
that are running on the same physical machine.

Correlate by host name, correlate by host address, or correlate by business

application group modes permit you to integrate IBM Tivoli Monitoring products
of different monitoring agent types within a policy. All of the agents to which the
policy has been distributed are collecting data that is in some way related.

Correlate by host name or correlate by host address

Policies that are correlated by host name or host address maintain the policy’s
status for each physical machine on which any agent to which the policy has been
distributed is running.

You create a policy called CPU_Usage that says, wait for a situation in which CPU
response time exceeds 2.5 seconds. Now evaluate a situation that looks for a single
job on the same physical host that is using more than 20% of the CPU. If such a
job is found, do Action_XYZ. You distribute CPU_Usage to multiple managed
systems on multiple host machines.

When you run CPU_Usage, CPU response time must exceed 2.5 seconds and a
single job must be using more than 20% of the CPU on the same machine for
Action_XYZ to be taken on that host machine. However, the two events do not
necessarily need to originate from the same agent.

Correlate by business application

A business application group is an a grouping of monitoring agents you create.
These agents have no physical association. Rather, each agent monitors some

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component of your enterprise. You group the agents as a “business application”

because you want to monitor the components as a unit. A given managed system
can be part of more than one business application group.

Define a business application (grouping of agents) by creating a new managed

system list. You give the new list a name and identify all of the managed systems
belonging to the business application group.

The creation of a business application group permits you to distribute a policy to

all members of that group through its managed system list name. As an example,
assume you have a business application group XY that groups an Oracle (OR)
agent running on machine X and an MQ agent running on machine Y. Business
application group XZ comprises the same Oracle agent running on machine X and
an MQ agent running on machine Z.

You now distribute a policy to both business application groups XY and XZ. When
the Wait until a situation is True activity distributed to the Oracle agent on
machine X fires, two separate threads are started, one for each business application
group of which the Oracle agent is a member. For thread XY, a subsequent MQ
situation would be evaluated on machine Y, and for thread XZ, a subsequent MQ
situation would be evaluated on machine Z.

Uncorrelated
Uncorrelated policies are unconcerned about the source of an event. There is only
one instance of the policy regardless of the number of managed systems to which
it is distributed. Events from any agent on any host are grouped and handled as if
they all originated from the same source.

You create a policy called My_Policy that says, when Sit_A fires, wait on Sit_B. If
Sit_B is true, do Action_C. You distribute My_Policy to managed system X and
also to managed system Y. When you run My_Policy, Action_C takes place if Sit_A
fires on either managed system X or managed system Y and subsequently Sit_B
fires on either managed system X or managed system Y.

Cross-monitoring server support

An evaluate situation activity in a correlated policy actively solicits specific agents
for the current state of the situation on that managed system. This feature makes
possible the execution of policies that can run on one monitoring server and that
evaluate situations on managed systems connected to different s.

When the trigger situation in a correlated policy fires on a given managed system,
the policy uses the name of the managed system, together with the policy’s
correlation mode to determine:
v the name of the correlation group by which events from that managed system
will be tracked, and the other managed systems that belong to that same
correlation group.
v For policies correlated by host name, host address, or business application, it is
possible that the managed systems belonging to a given correlation group are
connected to different s. Consequently, when the trigger situation fires on a
managed system connected to one , the evaluation may occur on a managed
system connected to another.

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Chapter 12. Designing customized responses

This chapter explains the Tivoli Enterprise Portal features for automating stored
commands and responses to events: take action for invoking commands at managed
systems, launch application for starting applications and adding substitutable
variables, and universal message for messages that will be sent when a situation
event opens.

Overview

Launch application
Launch application enables you to start programs and open Web pages using
definitions you have created. Applications can be launched from Navigator items,
table views, chart views and event console views.

For example, you can

v view a personal document by adding a call to a word processor
v link to the Internet with your favorite browser
v invoke your personal BAT file or REXX command file

Take action
The take action feature allows you to set up your own customized list of action
commands. You can then use a pop-up menu to cause an action command to
execute at one or more managed systems. Some agents come with a set of
predefined take action commands. You can also issue commands dynamically.

For example, if you see a process consuming too much memory, you can send an
email to someone to shut down the application or you can send shut down
command directly to the managed system.

Universal message console view

The universal message console view displays messages received as a result of their
generation at the monitoring server. Activities such as user logon and those related
to situations and policies generate universal messages. You can also specify the
generation of a universal message in a situation or policy action, with these
options:
v the category of messages you want to see (critical, warning, information)
v the severity of the message
v the message text you want when an event occurs or policy executes

Launch application
The launch application feature enables you to write definitions for starting
programs. The launch definition can include arguments that are passed to the
application when it is started. For example, you could open a specific file in a text
editor, run a script with variables, or open the IBM web site and search for a value
passed by the argument.

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Notes:
1. Commands launched from the Linux portal client must be run in a Windows
emulator.
2. Although you can assume the launch will start at the command prompt, some
applications require that you specify the command prompt as the target and
the launch application as the argument. See “Launch application examples” on
page 169.
3. If, instead of the application launching, you get an error message, enter the
command and any resolved arguments at the command line, adjusting the
entry until the program launches as expected. Then edit the launch definition
to match.

Launching an application
Your user ID must have Launch permission for the Launch Application feature.
1. Do one of the following:
v Select the Navigator item from where you want to launch the application.
v Open the workspace containing the view from where you want to launch the
application.
2. Right-click one of the following:
v Navigator item.
v Row in a table or situation event console view.
v Slice of a pie chart.
v Bar of a bar chart.

3. Select Launch from the pop-up menu.

The Create/Edit Launch Definitions window opens with the list of definitions
available for launching from this location.
4. Select a definition from the list and click Launch.
5. If the Edit Launch Definition Argument Values window opens, click inside each
<Default value not specified> cell and enter a value. You can also change
existing values of other arguments.
The command executes with any arguments that were included.
See 166.

Creating a launch definition

You can create a launch definition from a Navigator item, table row, chart point, or
situation event console view. This point of origin is where the definition will be
available for launching.

Your user ID must have View and Modify permission for the Launch
Application feature.
1. Select the Navigator item from where you want to originate the launch
definition.
2. If the launch definition will originate from a table, chart or situation event
console view, open the workspace containing the view.
3. Right-click one of the following:
v Navigator item
v Row in a table or situation event console view
v Slice of a pie chart

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v Bar of a bar chart

If you intend to add an argument that includes an attribute name, which will
be replaced by the current value at launch time, create the launch definition
from a table or chart view.
4. Select Launch from the pop-up menu and, in the Create or Edit Launch
Definitions window, click Create New.
5. In the Name text box, write a descriptive name.
6. In the Target text box, do one of the following:
v Enter the URL for the web site to open.
v Click Browse to locate and select the application to launch.
This is the path to and filename of the application to launch. If any part of the
target contains spaces, enclose the entire entry in double quotes. Example:
"c:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\notepad.exe".
7. In the Arguments text box, enter any arguments to be added to start the
application:
v To add a filename, click Browse, select Filename, then locate and select
the file.
If any of the argument contains spaces, surround it with double quotes, as
in "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My
Documents\db_notes.doc". If you have multiple files to specify, separate
each entry with a space and enclose in double quotes, as in
"C:temp\my_log.txt" "C:temp\your_log.txt".
v To add an attribute, click Browse, select Substitutable Items, then select
an attribute. The attribute’s value will be retrieved at launch time. If you
created the definition from a table or chart, the value of the attribute in that
row is substituted.
v To prompt for a value, type a ^ caret mark then the prompt (no spaces are
allowed), as in ^Name. If you would like to supply a default value, but also
enable the user to change it, append the prompt with an = equal sign and
the value. For example, ^Name=Fred, where Name is the prompt and Fred is
the default value.
v To prompt for a hidden value, such as a password, type two ^^ caret marks
then the prompt (no spaces are allowed), as in ^^Password. To have a value
hidden when the application is launched, such as a password, precede it
with two caret marks (^^).
v To add data or an attribute to look up in context, precede the data with an
& ampersand.
v To include an & ampersand or ^ caret in the filename or value, precede it
with a / forward slash. For example john&jane would be entered as
john/&jane.
8. If you added arguments, you can give the user the option to change the
values at launch time by checking Edit arguments before execution.
9. If you need to specify the Start in location, click Browse to locate and select
the folder for the program or other required files.
10. If the definition originates from a Navigator item and you want to restrict its
availability to this item only or to others of the same type, click Advanced,
then select one of the options in the Advanced Options for Launch Definition
window:
This item makes the launch definition available only to this Navigator
item.

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All items of this type and affinity makes this launch definition available to
all Navigator items of the same type. For example, if you create a launch
definition from the Navigator item named Universal Database, the definition
will be available from all other Universal Database agent items.
Global applies the launch definition to all items in all Navigator views.
11. Click Evaluate to see how the arguments will resolve when the application
launches.
12. When you are finished with the launch definition, click Apply to save your
changes and keep the window open; or click OK to save your changes and
close the window.
In this example of substitutable item, the attribute DiskName was selected. It
shows in the Arguments text box as &NT_Logical_Disk.Disk_Name:
http://www.ibm.com/search?q=+&NT_Logical_Disk.Disk_Name+

Copying or editing a launch definition

Your user ID must have View and Modify permission for the Launch
Application feature.
1. Select the Navigator item where the launch definition originates.
2. If the launch definition was created from a table, chart or situation event
console view, open the workspace containing the view.
3. Right-click one of the following:
v Navigator item
v Row in a table or situation event console view
v Slice of a pie chart
v Bar of a bar chart

4. Select Launch from the pop-up menu and select the definition you want to
copy or edit.
5. If you want to create a copy of the definition, click Create Another.
6. Starting at 5, continue with the remaining steps under Creating a launch
definition.

Deleting a launch definition

Your user ID must have View and Modify permission for the Launch
Application feature.
1. Select the Navigator item where the launch definition originates.
2. If the launch definition was created from a table, chart or situation event
console view, open the workspace containing the view.
3. Right-click one of the following:
v Navigator item
v Row in a table or situation event console view
v Slice of a pie chart
v Bar of a bar chart

4. Select Launch from the pop-up menu.

5. Select the definition from the list and click Delete.

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Launch application examples

Launch Telnet
To launch a Telnet session, you need to specify the command prompt as
the target and the Telnet session as the argument.
Target: c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe
Arguments: /c start telnet.exe computer

where computer is the location where the Telnet executable is found.

Launch a batch file
To launch a batch file, you need to specify the command prompt as the
target and the batch file as the argument. This example starts myscript.bat.
Target: c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe
Arguments: /c start c:\scripts\myscript.bat
Launch a web site with search text
In this example, the user typed everything in the Arguments field except
for &NT_Process.Process_Name, which was added when Process_Name was
selected from the list of Substitutable items. The attribute is replaced by the
current value when the application is launched.
Target: c:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
Arguments: http://www.ibm.com/search?q=+&NT_Process.Process_Name
Launch xedit with a particular file
This definition launches the xedit text editor on Linux and opens the
trace_db2.txt file.
Target: /usr/X11/bin/xedit
Arguments: /tmp/trace_db2.txt

Take Action

Overview
The take action feature lets you interact directly with your applications and
operating system. Take action has a text box for entering your own system
command, or you can choose from a list of predefined commands. It also has a list
of systems on which to effect the command.

You can invoke the Take Action feature from several places:
Navigator item
Send a command to a managed system associated with the current
Navigator item.
Table row, Pie chart slice, Bar chart bar
Send a command to a system associated with the selected row or data
series.
Take action view
Add a take action view to a workspace so you can access the feature from
that workspace at any time.
Situation
Add a command that is sent to a managed system or add a message that is
sent to the universal message console that executes when the situation
becomes true.

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Policy Add a Take action or Write message activity to a policy that issues a
command to a system or generates a message that displays in the universal
message console view.

You have the choice to select a predefined command or enter a command yourself.
You can also create and save commands so you can select them from the list of
defined commands.

Example: This is an action command for a situation that detects when a certain
process is not running. When the system is down, the situation becomes true and
this text message is sent to the technician’s phone:
echo "Process &NT_Process.Process_Name on Server &NT_Process.Server_Name is Down,
Please investigate!” |sendmail -subject="Process &NT_Process.Process_Name on
&NT_Process.Server_Name is not running” [email protected].

And this how the message looks to the receiver:

Process nhttp on Server Primary:MYSERVER2:NT is Down, Please investigate!

When you issue a take action command, your user ID must be authorized on the
relevant system for the requested command. For example, to issue a TSO
command, your user ID must be a valid TSO ID and it must also be defined as a
valid logon ID for Tivoli Enterprise Portal.

Sending a take action command

From the portal client you can send commands to systems in your managed
network. The Take Action feature enables you to, for instance, restart a process that
is not functioning properly, or send a message.

Your user ID must have View permission for the Action feature.
1. Select the Navigator item associated with the application or managed system
on which you want to execute the command.
2. Right-click the Navigator item.
You can also right-click a row in a table view, slice in a pie chart, or bar of a
bar chart.
3. Point to Take Action and choose Select from the pop-up menu.
4. Select a predefined action using the Name field; -OR- enter a command using
the Command field.
To select a predefined action:
a. In the Name field, select an action name from the list.
The command appears in the field below. Some actions do not require you
to add a value. Those that do will open the Edit Argument Values window
automatically. Other actions may display a suggested value, which you can
change by clicking Arguments and entering a different value.
b. If the Edit Argument Values window opens, enter a value to identify the
item on which the action should take place.
c. If the action command fills in the value automatically and you would like to
change it, click Arguments and enter the value that identifies what to act
on.
A two-column window opens with the attribute in the Name column and a
place to enter the value of the attribute in the Value column. For example, if
you chose the action that starts a process, you need to identify the process

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by entering its name as the value. If no argument is required for the action
command, this function will be disabled.
d. Click an application host in the Destination System list.
If you want to send the command to multiple systems, use Ctrl+click to
select more or Shift+click to select all systems between.
To enter a command:
a. In the Command text box type a command.
Example: Net send mars The server is running out of memory. Close some
applications. The user at the system named mars sees the message, The
server is running out of memory. Close some applications.
b. Click an application host in the Destination System list.
If you want to send the command to multiple systems, use Ctrl+click to
select more or Shift+click to select all systems between. After you click OK,
the command is executed on the selected system or systems. If a message is
returned, it will be from the application on which the command was
executed.

Creating a take action command

You can create custom take action commands and invoke them as needed on the
system you choose.

Your user ID must have Modify permission for the Action feature.
1. Select the Navigator item associated with the application on which you want to
execute the command.
2. Right-click one of the following:
v The selected Navigator item
v Row in a table view
v Slice in a pie chart
v Bar of a bar chart
3. Point to Take Action and select Create/Edit from the pop-up menu.
The Edit Action and Select Action windows open.
4. Select <Create new Action> and click OK.
5. In the Create New Action window, enter a name and any description for the
command.
6. Select the type of command.
System Command is for issuing a command on the operating system associated
with this Navigator item. For example, if you selected a Navigator item on the
UNIX Systems branch, you could enter a UNIX shell command.
The other types of commands that appear are for the agents associated with
this Navigator item. For example, at the Enterprise level, you will see all agent
types on your managed network, whereas at the system level, you will see
those for the types of agents running on that system.
7. In the text box, type the command just as you would from the command line.
8. If you want to insert an attribute, which will be replaced by its value at run
time, click Insert Attribute, then select one from the Select attribute window.
Example: echo System: &NT_Logical_Disk.Server_Name, Disk:
&NT_Logical_Disk.Disk_Name, Space Available:
&NT_Logical_Disk.%_Free%|mail userID. This command sends an email that
reads, ″System: MyServer, Disk: D:, Space Available: 15%.″

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9. When you are finished creating the action, click OK to save it.
Your user-defined action is now selectable from the list of actions available for
this agent. The action will be available to all users whose IDs have View Action
permission and the application the command was written for as one of their
Allowed Applications.

Editing a take action command

Your user ID must have Modify permission for the Action feature.
1. Select a Navigator item associated with the application or system on which the
command can be executed.
2. Right-click the Navigator item.
You can also right-click a row in a table view, slice in a pie chart, or bar of a
bar chart.
3. Point to Take Action and select Create/Edit from the pop-up menu.
The Edit Action and Select Action windows open.
4. Select a name from the list and click OK.
5. In the Edit Action window, edit the command name, description, type, or text.
6. If you want to insert an attribute name that will be replaced by the attribute’s
current value when the command is invoked, click Insert Attribute and select
from the list.
7. When you are finished editing the command, click OK to save your changes.

Take action view

The take action view is a good addition to workspaces associated with managed
systems on which you want to issue commands.

Your user ID must have Modify permission for the Action feature. If the split
view and take action view tools are disabled (dimmed), or if take action
commands are disabled, your user ID does not have Workspace Author Mode
permission or View Action permission or both.
1. Open the workspace where you want the view.
2. If you want the view to occupy a new space, click Split Vertically or Split
Horizontally in one of the views.
3. Click Take Action.
Point and click inside the view where you want the take action view. The
mouse pointer changes to as you move inside the workspace. Once you
click, the old view is replaced by the take action view.
4. If you want to send a command now, follow the instructions for 4 of
“Launching an application” on page 166 to select a predefined action or enter a
command.
5. Save the workspace if you want to keep the take action view in this workspace
for future work sessions.

Rules for specifying arguments and commands

The following rules apply when you specify arguments and commands for a Take
Action entry.
v A single parameter should not contain interleaving blanks, unless you enclose
the text in double quotes (“) or single quotes (‘). For example, “Cancel &PID”.
Arguments containing interleaving blanks are separated into individual values.

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v Specify substitution variables by prefixing attribute names with an ampersand

(&).
v Specify fully qualified attributes in the &Groupname.Attributename format,
indicating that a value may only be substituted from a specific attribute group.
v Command strings are created by concatenating the contents of the Command
entry field with all the arguments in the Arguments field.
v When an attribute is selected and added to the Arguments field, the attribute is
removed from the list of available attributes.
v A command string (Command + Arguments) definition is limited to 512 bytes.
The formatted command string, after variable substitution, is limited to 256
bytes.

User ID
The action command is issued with the authorization of the user ID on the
managed system or monitoring server machine to which it is sent.

If your managed network validates user IDs, then your ID must be authorized on
the relevant system receiving the command. For example, to issue a TSO
command, your user ID must be a valid TSO ID and it must also be defined as a
valid logon ID for Tivoli Management Portal.

Universal message console

You can specify the generation of universal messages when creating situations and
policy actions. Universal messages are also generated by certain activities including
those related to situations and policies, such as stopping a situation. The universal
message console view displays those messages in real-time, refreshing as new
messages arrive.

To add a view to a workspace, your user ID requires Workspace Author Mode

permission.

Adding a universal message console view

The universal message console displays messages as they are received, one row per
message.
1. Open the workspace where you want the view to appear.
2. If you want the view to occupy a new space, click or in one of the views.
3. Click .
4. Click inside the view where you want the universal message console.
The mouse pointer changes to a as you move inside the workspace. Once
you click, the old view is replaced by the console. The view will populate as
messages are received for the managed systems assigned to this Navigator
item.
The messages that appear were defined by Specify an action to take in a
situation that is now true for the managed systems associated with this
navigator item, and by a Take action or Write message activity for a policy that
is now executing.
5. Save the workspace if you want to save it with the universal message console
view you just added.

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Chapter 13. Terminal view

The terminal view enables you to start terminal sessions from inside a Tivoli
Enterprise Portal workspace. And you can automate session navigation with
terminal scripts written with our proprietary Terminal Emulator Scripting
Language. This chapter describes how to use the terminal view features and
provides a complete reference to the scripting language.

Overview
The terminal emulator adapter turns the view into a 3270, 5250, or Telnet interface
so you can connect to any TN3270, TN5250, or VT100 host system with TCP/IP.

For 3270 or 5250 terminal views, you also have scripting capability with record,
playback, and authoring of entire scripts. You can author a script to zoom to an
application, such as to a specific point in an OMEGAMON II product. The
scripting engine is an interpreter/execution engine based on a C-like language. It
has a defined format and syntax, and a set of built-in functions. It also allows you
to create your own functions. Since it is intended to address a specific
environment—that of manipulating terminal session navigation—it does not
provide a full range of programming functionality.

Customizing a terminal view

Your user ID requires Workspace Author Mode permission to use this feature.

Adding a terminal view to the workspace

1. Click Terminal, then release the mouse button.
2. Point and click inside the space to adopt the new view.
When you click inside a view, the Terminal Emulator Configuration window
opens.
3. In the Host text box, type the host name or IP address of the system to which
you want to connect.
4. In the Port text box, type the host port number.
This is the IP port number used by the host software. The default of 23 is valid
for most installations.
5. Select a Terminal Type from the list or accept the default.
6. Click OK to accept the configuration and establish the connection.
If you save the workspace with this view, the configuration information will be
used each time you open the workspace and will establish a connection to the
host.
By default, the terminal connection remains active until you disconnect
manually or until you end this portal work session. This means you can open
other workspaces and return to this one without breaking the connection.

Tip: If you want to keep the terminal view on your desktop while you
navigator to other workspaces, you can always create a new window with
Ctrl+N (see on page 29).

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What the terminal view shows

The terminal view contains these elements:
v A toolbar to control the display and operation of the session:
KeyPad toggles the display of the key mappings at the bottom of the view.
Connection connects to a session or disconnects from an active session.
Disconnecting from a session while a script is active will terminate the script;
disconnecting while the script is recording will stop the recording.
Manage Scripts opens a window so you can create, edit, delete, start and stop
scripts for 3270 or 5250 sessions. Scripts are not available for Telnet sessions.
Record New Script prompts for a new script name and starts recording.
Scripts are not available for Telnet sessions.
Stop Script stops whichever is in use: script recording or script playback.
v A main terminal window that represents the emulator session with the host. You
manipulate this window in the same manner as for a normal terminal.
v A keyboard mapping that emulates the aid keys of the real terminal. You can
click directly on these keys to send the equivalent aid key.
v A status bar that displays information about the current status of the session:
Host name displays the name of the host to which you are connected.
Connection status indicates whether the current session is connected or
disconnected.
Keyboard status indicates whether the keyboard is locked or unlocked.
Overwrite/Insert indicates whether the characters will overwrite or insert when
typed into an unprotected field.
Field Status indicates whether a field on the terminal screen is protected or
unprotected.
Cursor Location displays the screen row, column of the cursor.

Properties: Configuration
Right-click the terminal view and click Properties to see the Configuration tab for
the view:

Configuration has three sub-tabs for customizing the terminal view and its display:
Connection, Scripts and Zoom. Whenever you open the workspace, the script you
specify will run automatically and the host you specify will be connected
automatically.

Connection

Connection

This is the same Terminal Emulator Configuration window you get when adding a
terminal view to the workspace. The values are those you supplied when you
added the terminal view. You can change them here:

Host is the host name or IP address of the system to which you want to connect.

Port is the IP port number used by the host software. The default of 23 is valid for
most installations.

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Terminal Type is the name and dimensions of the terminal to emulate. Accept the
default or select one from the list.

Connect when entering workspace will connect to the host when you open the
workspace. If you disable it, you need to click Connection to start the session.

Disconnect options

Do not disconnect when leaving workspace keeps the session open as long as you
are logged on to the portal server, so you can return to this workspace and the
session where you left it last.

Disconnect after this many minutes:___ will disconnect the works session the
number of minutes entered here after you close the workspace.

Scripts
This is the same as the Manage Scripts window, which opens when you click
Manage Scripts in the terminal view.

Zoom

(Not available in this release of Tivoli Enterprise Portal.) This is the user ID and
password that will be used to log on to a terminal session when you Zoom from
the event workspace to the OMEGAMON where the event occurred.

User ID and Password

TSO User ID is the Time Sharing Option user ID for logging on to the host session.

Password is the password for your user ID. To ensure that no one can see your
password, each character you type appears as an asterisk (*).

Confirm Password Enter the same password as above to confirm you typed it
correctly.

Properties: Style
Right-click the terminal view and click Properties to see the Style tab for the view:

Text style

Font name for the session display is Monospaced by default or you can select
another from the list.

Size is 12 by default or you can select another point size from the list.

Terminal display options

Show keypad selects KeyPad automatically for the view whenever you open
the workspace, so the function key mappings will display at the bottom of the
view.

Show block cursor displays the cursor as a block instead of as the underscore
character.

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Show ruler draws a line along the vertical axis of the cursor and along the
horizontal axis so you can easily locate the cursor on the display.

Figure 16. Show ruler option for a terminal session

Running a script
Once you have scripts saved for a terminal view, and the terminal view saved with
a workspace, you can run them at any time. You must be connected to a 3270 or
5250 session before you can run a script.
1. While in the terminal view, click Connection and fill in the Terminal
Emulator Configuration window:
v In the Host text box, type the host name or IP address of the system to which
you want to connect.
v In the Port text box, type the host port number.
v This is the IP port number used by the host software. The default of 23 is
valid for most installations.
v Select a Terminal Type from the list, or accept the default.
v Click OK to accept the configuration and establish the connection.
2. Click Manage Scripts to open a list of available scripts.
3. Select a script from the list or type a name in the Script Names text box.
4. Click Run to start executing the selected script.
5. If you want to stop the script before its completion, click Stop.
You must be connected to a session before you can run a script.

Recording a script
The recorder allows you to capture and play back host 3270 or 5250 sessions. As
you interact with the terminal session, the session is recorded as a set of script
commands that can be saved and played back at a later time. This allows for the
automation of navigation to specific screens.
1. While in the terminal view, click Record New Script.
2. In the window that opens, type a new Script Name and click OK.
From this point on, all terminal activity will be captured in the script.
3. Perform all the actions to be recorded in the script.
4. When you are finished, click Stop.
The script is now available in the workspace for editing or execution through
Manage Scripts.
5. If you want the script to start automatically upon connection, select the script
from the Startup Script list.
6. Click Save to permanently save the script.
If you do not save the workspace, the script will be available from other
workspaces, but only during this work session; it will be lost when you close
the connection with the portal server. Session scripts are saved with your user

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ID, so no other users will be able to see and run the same scripts unless you
were in workspace administration mode when you created them.

Manage Scripts feature

Use the Manage Scripts function to edit existing scripts and to specify a script to
run whenever you start a 3270 or 5250 terminal session.
1. While in the terminal view, click Manage Scripts to see the list of available
scripts.
2. Select a script from the list, or type a name in the Script Names text box, then
click one of the following:
v Run to start executing the selected script. Note that you must be connected
to a session before you can run a script.
v Stop to discontinue running the script. This is useful if you want to stop a
script before it has completed or if an unrecoverable error has occurred.
v Record to start recording a new script.
v Stop Recording to stop the recorder.
v Edit to edit the selected script. The Script editor opens with basic editing
functions such as copy and paste. The Script editor contains menu items to
create a new script, save the script, save as another script, and exit the Script
editor. See Scripting syntax and Scripting functions.
v Delete to remove the selected script from the list of available scripts.
3. If you want to designate a script to start automatically upon connection, select
it from the Startup Script list.
Connection to a host system is established whenever you open a workspace
that contains a terminal view, and when you reconnect to a session with the
Connection tool or by running a script.
4. Click Save to permanently save any changes made to the script or if you
designated a startup script.

Scripting syntax
You create new 3270 or 5250 session scripts using the Manage Scripts feature
available from the terminal view and described on page 179.

Syntax
A script is a program made up of function definitions, variable definitions, and
executable program statements. The terminal emulator scripting language is similar
to Java or C.

The scripting language has these general conventions:

v Keywords, variables and function names are case-insensitive
v All statements are terminated with a semi-colon
v Multiple statements can appear on a single line
v Function definitions must appear ahead of the data declarations and program
statements
v Declarations can appear anywhere before they are referenced

The general layout is:

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Return-type FUNCTION function-name (optional parameters) {optional local

variables; statements&ldots;}

Reserved words
Reserved words are character strings that have special meanings. They cannot be
used except for their intended meaning. The reserved words are of three types:
v language keywords
v predefined constants
v built-in function names.

Language keywords
Language keywords are used as commands within a script. They are interpreted to
provide some action or considered as part of a statement. You can use these
keywords only for their predefined purpose:

AND ; (semicolon) If
OR Break Int
EQ Continue Real
NE Else Return
GE Exit String
GT For While
LE Function LT

Declarations and function names

Each script program begins with global data declarations, stating the global
variables and user-defined functions you will be using. Declarations build an
association between a function and its attributes or values. You do not need to
declare any of the built-in functions, since the interpreter already recognizes these
function names.

Identifiers
Identifiers are the names that you create to denote constants, variables, and
functions. Identifiers have the following characteristics:
v an identifier may be any length
v the first character must be alphabetic (a-z, A-Z), numeric (0-9), or an underscore
(_)
v the remaining characters may be alphabetic (a-z, A-Z), numeric (0-9), or
underscores (_)
v each identifier must be unique. Identifiers cannot be one of the reserved words.

Punctuation
The following punctuation rules apply to a section
v Statements end with a semi-colon – ;
v Parameter lists are enclosed in parenthesis – ()
v Parameters are separated by commas – ,
v Statement blocks are enclosed in braces – {}

Embedded quoted strings

String literals are enclosed in double quotes or single quotes. You can insert double
quotes as part of a string literal by preceding the quote with the escape character
/″. Alternatively, you can begin and end the string literal with the single quote
character ’. To imbed a single quote use the /’ escape sequence or enclose the
string literal within double quotes.

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Example:

// Both statements yield embedded quotes

quotedStr1 = ″The job /″TSOA/″ is running″;
quotedStr2 = ’The job ″TSOA″ is running’;

White space
The script language ignores white space (spaces, tabs, new-lines) except within a
quoted string.

Comments
Comments are supported as a way to add explanatory text to your script program
or to exclude certain parts of the code.
v comments can be single line or multi-line comment blocks
v the script interpreter ignores comments
v comment blocks are enclosed within the /* */ pairs. Comment blocks can span
multiple lines.
v comments can also start with the // character string. The interpreter ignores
everything to the right of the double slash up to the end of the line (new-line
character).
v comments can start anywhere in the script

Example:

// This is a single line comment

a = 3; // this is a comment
/* This section defines
multiple line comment block
*/
a = 3; /* imbedded comment block */ b=4;

Constants and variables

All data is represented as one of three basic data types:
v Int
Integer data type ( + - followed by 1 or more digits 0–9).
v Real
Floating point (+- followed by zero or more digits 0–9). Decimal point followed
by 1 or more digits 0–9. Note that all numbers are stored internally as Float.
v String
Any valid Unicode string enclosed within quotes.

Constants
A constant is a named data item with a predefined value. You cannot change the
value assigned to a predefined constant. The predefined constants are:
v NULL
An empty reference. Similar to an empty pointer. Note that this is not the same
as a null string ″″.
v TRUE
Equivalent to the number 1.
v FALSE
Equivalent to the number 0.

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Variable definitions
A variable is a named data item whose value can change during the course of
program execution. A variable name must follow the naming convention of an
Identifier (alphabetic character, numeric character, and the underscore.) When more
than one variable is defined on a single declaration, the name must be separated
by commas. Each variable declaration must be terminated with a semi-colon.
Variable names cannot be the same as a reserved word.

Note: Identifiers and Names in the script language are case-insensitive. Thus, abc
is the same as ABC.

Global and local variables

Variables may be either global or local. A variable is global unless it is declared
within a function definition. Global variables are visible and available to all
statements in a script. Local variables are only visible and available within the
function where they were defined. Although variable names and identifiers must
be unique, it is valid to declare a local variable that has the same name as global,
or the same name as a local variable defined in another function. Parameter names
in a function definition are considered to be local variables. Data passed to a
function is by value. A global variable passed to a function will not be changed by
the function.

Operators and expressions

Expressions perform specific actions, based on an operator, with one or two
operands. An operand may be a constant, a variable or a function result. Operators
are arithmetic, logical, and relational. As with C, some operators vary in
functionality according to the data type of the operands specified in the expression.

Arithmetic operators ( +, -, *, /, **, % )

Arithmetic operators perform mathematical operations such as addition and
subtraction with operands. There are two types of mathematical operators: unary
and binary. Unary operators perform an action with a single operand. Binary
operators perform actions with two operands. In a complex expression, (two or
more operands) the order of evaluation depends on precedence rules.

Unary arithmetic operators

Unary operators are arithmetic operators that perform an action on a single
operand. The script language recognizes the unary operator negative (-).

The negative unary operator reverses the sign of an expression from positive to
negative or vice-versa. The net effect is that of multiplying the number by -1.

Example:

a = -10;

The Prefix operators increment or decrement the variable prior to dereferencing the
object, while the Postfix operators increment or decrement the variable after
referencing it.

Example:

A=1;
B = a++; // b will equal 1, a will equal 2;
A = 1;

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B = ++a; // b will equal 2, a will equal 2;

A= 1;
B = a--; // b will equal 1, a will equal 0;

Binary arithmetic operators

Insert a space before and after an arithmetic operator. The binary arithmetic
operators that are supported are listed below.
Table 5. Binary Arithmetic Operators
Symbol Operation Example Description
+ Addition a+b Add the two operands
- Subtraction a-b Subtract the second operand
from the first operand
* Multiplication a*b Multiply the two operands
/ Division a/b Divide the first operand by the
second operand
** Power a ** b Raise the first operand by the
power of the second operand
% Modulo a%b Divide the first operand by the
second operand and yield the
remainder portion

Operator precedence
Expressions are normally evaluated left to right. Complex expressions are
evaluated one at a time. The order in which the expressions are evaluated is
determined by the precedence of the operators used. The standard C ordering is
followed.
1. negation (-) unary
2. power
3. multiplication, division and modulo
4. addition and subtraction

If an expression contains two or more operators with the same precedence, the
operator to the left is evaluated first. For example, 10 / 2 * 5 will be evaluated as
(10 / 2) and the result multiplied by 5.

When a lower precedence operation should be processed first, it should be

enclosed within parentheses. For example, 30 / 2 + 8. This is normally evaluated
as 30 divided by 2 then 8 added to the result. If you want to divide by 2 + 8, it
should be written as 30 / (2 + 8).

Parentheses can be nested within expressions. Innermost parenthetical expressions

are evaluated first.

Assignment Operator (= )
Use the assignment operator (=) to copy a constant, literal, variable expression
result, or function result to a variable. The script language does not support
multiple assignments in a single statement (such as a=b=c=0). String lengths are
defined based on the size of the string assigned to the variable and can change
dynamically at runtime.

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Logical Operators (AND, OR)

Logical operators allow the combining of more than one relational test in one
comparison. Logical operators return a TRUE (1) or FALSE (0) value. Logical
operators have a lower precedence than arithmetic operators.
Table 6. Logical Operators
Symbol Operation Example Description
AND && AND Expr1 $$ expr2 True if both expr1 and expr2 are
true.
OR || OR Expr1 OR expr2 True if either expr1 or expr2 are
true.

Relational Operators
Relational operators are as follows:
Table 7. Relational Operators
Symbol Operation Example Description
< Less than a<b True if a is less than b.
> Greater than a GT b True if a is greater than b.
== Equal a == b True if a is equal to b.
!= Not equal a NE b True if a is not equal to b.
<= Less than or a <= b True if a is less than or equal to b.
equal
>= Greater than or a GE b True if a is greater than or equal to
equal b.

Comparisons must be made on like data types—string to string, numbers to

numbers. If the data types are different, a run time error will be raised.

String comparisons
Two strings are considered equal if they match character for character and are of
the same length. Strings are compared character by character, left to right until all
characters have been matched or one of the strings has been exhausted. If the end
of one string is encountered before the end of the corresponding string, the strings
are considered to be of unequal length and result in an unequal condition.

If any character in a string does not match the corresponding character in the other
string, the comparison stops and the strings are considered not equal. Strings are
case-sensitive.

Examples:

Str1 = ″abcdefg″;
Str2 = ″abcdefg″;
Str3 = ″abcdef″;
Str4 = ″ABCDEFG″;
If (str1 == str2)&ldots; results in an equal/true conditions
If (str1 == str3)&ldots;. Results in a not equal condition because str3 is shorter
than str1
If (str1 == str4) &ldots; Results in a not equal condition because the strings are
of different case;

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String Concatenation Operator (+)

The Plus(+) operator, when applied to strings, results in the concatenation of the
two strings.

Example:

Str1 = ″abc″;
Str2 = ″def″;
Str3 = str1 + str2; results in ″abcdef″

Flow control statements

The script interpreter processes statements sequentially starting with the first
statement of the program block. This sequential flow can be controlled with
conditional statements that perform branching and iteration. Branching is
controlled with an IF statement that directs execution along a given path. Iteration
is controlled with loop statements that execute one or more statements repeatedly.
Recursion is the process of a function calling itself either directly or indirectly
through a second function.

Control statements are

IF/THEN/ELSE, WHILE/BREAK/CONTINUE, RETURN

IF statement
The IF statement allows conditional execution based on the evaluation of an
expression. IF statements can be nested.

The syntax of the IF statement is:

IF (condition) true-statements [ ELSE false-statements] ;

Table 8. If Statement
Part Description
IF The keyword to begin the control structure.
Condition A numeric or string expression that evaluates true (one) or false
(zero).
True-statements Statement(s) performed when the condition is true.
ELSE (Optional) Keyword to begin the False control flow.
False-statements Statement(s) performed if the condition is false.

Multiple statements are permitted as part of the true-statements or

false-statements. If multiple statements are to be executed, they must appear
within a statement block embedded within braces { }.

Example:

If (userid != ″″) setField(userid,1,5);

If (userid != ″″) setField (userid,1,5) else errMsg(″Userid must be specified″);
If ( op == 5 )
{ setField(userid,1,5);
sendKey(″Enter″);
}
else

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if (op == 3)
setField(pswd,2,5);
else
msgBox(″unknown operation:);
if (prompt(″enter Name″) == ″″) errMsg(″Name must be specified″);

For statement
The For statement allows iterative execution based on the evaluation of an
expression. An initializer statement can be executed to establish initial conditions.
A conditional expression is used to control the number of times the loop is
executed. An update statement is issued each iteration through the loop.

The syntax of the For statement is :

FOR (initial-statement ; condition ; update-statement ) loop-statements ;

Table 9. For Statement
Part Description
For The keyword to begin the loop control structure.
Initial-statement A statement to be executed prior to the loop.
Condition A numeric or string expression that evaluates true (one) or false
(zero). A function that returns an integer result. The loop continues
to execute while this condition is true.
Update-statement A statement that will be executed at the end of each iteration.
Loop-statements Statement(s) performed when the condition is true.

Multiple statements are permitted as part of the loop-statements. If multiple

statements are to be executed, they must appear within a statement block
embedded in braces { }.

Example:

For ( i=0; i<3; i=I+1) waitforscreen(1000);

For ( i=0; i<3; i=i+1)
{
sendString(userid);
if (waitforstring (″Logon complete″) > 0)
{
success = true;
break;;
}
}

Return statement
Use the Return statement to return from a function or to end the main program
block. Program execution resumes at the statement following the point at which a
function was called, or exits the script if it is in the main program block. An
optional value can be associated with the return statement.

A RETURN statement that is not within a function definition terminates the script.

Syntax:

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RETURN [return-value];
Table 10. Return Statement
Part Description
RETURN The keyword to pass control to the calling statements.
return-value An optional value to be returned to the caller. This can be a constant
value, literal, or expression.

Example:

&ldots;..
return 0;

While statement
The While statement executes a series of statements in a loop for as long as a
condition is true.

Syntax

WHILE (expression) statements;

Table 11. While Statement
Part Description
While The keyword to begin the control structure.
Condition A numeric or string expression that evaluates true (one) or false
(zero).
statements Statement(s) performed while the condition true.

Example:

cnt = 1;
WHILE (cnt < 3)
{
a = a+1;
cnt = cnt + 1;
}
// this will execute the loop 3 times

Break statement
The Break statement causes control to exit a While loop regardless of the condition
controlling the loop.

Syntax:

BREAK;

Example:

cnt= 1;
WHILE (cnt < 3)
{
userid = prompt(″Enter Userid″);

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if (logon(userid) == 1) break;
cnt = cnt + 1;
}

Continue statement
The Continue statement causes the execution of the While loop to resume at the
top, without executing the rest of the statements in the block.

Syntax:

Continue;

Example:

cnt= 1;
WHILE (cnt < 3)
{
userid = prompt(″Enter Userid″);
if (logon(prompt(″Enter Userid″)) != 1)
{
msgBox(″Invalid Logon id″);
continue;
};
// do other logic&ldots;.
}

Scripting functions

Overview
A function is a named set of statements that perform a certain task. Functions have
unique names. A function can take a set of arguments on which to operate on and
return a value that represents the result of the task it has performed.

The Terminal script language supports two types of functions:

v User-defined functions
v Built-in functions

User-defined functions
User-defined functions make it possible to create structured scripts. User- defined
functions must be declared at the beginning of a script. The FUNCTION keyword
identifies the block of statements as a user-defined function.

The function declarations must follow a specific format:

return-type FUNCTION function-name (optional parameters) { optional local

variables; statements&ldots;}
Table 12. User-defined Functions
Part Description
Return-type The data-type of the return value of the function.
FUNCTION The keyword that identifies this as a user-defined function.
Function-name A unique name that identifies this function. Must follow the
naming convention of Identifiers.

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Table 12. User-defined Functions (continued)

Part Description
Optional parameters The named parameters (if any) that will be passed to this
function. Enclosed in parentheses.
Optional local The declaration of any local variables that this function will use.
variables
statements The Statement(s) that will be performed when the function is
called.

The rules described in “Global and local variables” on page 182 apply to the
parameters and local variables used in a function. Any optional parameter names
are assumed to be local to a function. Other local variables that are unique to a
function can be declared. The control flow of the statements in a function follow
the same rules that apply to normal program statement blocks. A RETURN
statement returns control to the point in the program where a function was called.
A return value may be passed back as part of the return statement.

Example:

int FUNCTION signonPanel(string arg1)

{
if ((findString(arg1) > 0) AND
(findString(″Sign On Panel″) > 0) AND
(findString(″Userid″) > 0) AND
(findString(″Password″) > 0) )
return 0;
else
return 1;
}

Calling a function
All functions , whether user-defined or built-in, are called in the same manner.
Enter the name of the function, followed by the parameters to be passed to the
function.

Example:

signonPanel(″OMEGAVIEW″);

A function’s value can be used in assignment statements, condition statements or

as a program statement.

Examples:

Result = signonPanel // an assignment

(″OMEGAVIEW″);
If (signonPanel(″OMEGAVIEW″) == // in a conditional statement;
1)
SignonPanel(″OMEGAVIEW″); // as a program statement

Built-in functions
The terminal script language has a set of built-in functions that can be used to
manipulate data as well as to control the navigation through a terminal session.

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Since these functions are already defined internally, they do not have to be
declared before using them. Simply type the name of the function.

The following sections describe the built-in functions and their parameters and
return values.

Upper
Upper converts a string to upper case.
Parms String to be converted
Return Returns a new string, converted to uppercase. Follows the rules of
the language in use.

Example:

Str = ″abc″;
Str2 = upper(str); // str2 will contain ″ABC″

Lower
Lower converts a string to lower case.
Parms String to be converted
Return Returns a new string, converted to lowercase. Follows the rules of
the language in use.

Example:

Str = ″ABC″;
Str2 = lower(str); // str2 will contain ″abc″

Index
Index returns the position (index relative to one) of a substring within a String.
Parms Target string - string to be searched
Return Returns the position of the search string or zero if not found

Example:

Str = ″abcdef″;
Val = index(str,″def″); // val will contain 4

Length
Length returns the length of the string.
Parms String to be inspected
Return Returns a numeric value of the length of the string (in characters),
or 0 if null string

Example:

Str = ″abc″;
Val = length(str); // val will be 3

Substring
Substring returns the portion of the string as specified by the offset and length. It
can be abbreviated as Substr.

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Parms Target string - string to be searched

Starting offset - offset within the string to start the selection
Length - length of the data desired
Return Returns the string that represents the selection

Note: The length parameter is optional, and if not specified will assume the length
up to the end of the target string. If the length exceeds the length of the
target string, an error is raised.

Example:

Str = ″abcdef″;
Str2 = substring(str,3,3); // str2 will contain ″def″
Str3 = substr(str,1); // str3 will contain ″bcdef″

Min
Min compares two numbers and returns the value equal to the lesser of the two
numbers.
Parms Number 1 - the first value to compare
Number 2 - the second value to compare
Return Returns either Number 1 or Number 2 depending upon which is
less

Example:

Val1 = 10;
Val2 = 20;
Val3 = min(val1,val2); // val3 will contain 10;

Max
Max compares two numbers and returns the value equal to the greater of the two
numbers.
Parms Number 1 - the first value to compare
Number 2 - the second value to compare
Return Returns either Number 1 or Number 2 depending upon which is
greater

Example:

Val1 = 10;
Val2 = 20;
Val3 = max(val1,val2); // val3 will contain 20;

Prompt
Prompt allows the script to gather data from a user interactively by asking a user
to enter data. This presents a window with message text and an edit field. It
prompts you to enter data. You can either enter data and click OK or click Cancel
to ignore the prompt.
Parms MsgText - text of the message to be displayed in the window

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PSWD - optional second parm. The keyword PSWD indicates that

this is a password type field. The data entered by you does not
display, but is represented by a series of asterisks(*) for each
character typed.
Return Returns the string value of the data entered. If you click Cancel, a
null value will be returned. This is different from a null string.

Example:

Userid = prompt(″Enter your userid″)

Pswd = prompt(″Enter password″,″PSWD″);

If you enter a value, it is placed in the variable userid. If you do not enter any
data, and click OK, a null (zero length) string is returned.

If you click Cancel, a null pointer value is returned.

MsgBox
MsgBox displays a text message on the screen. A message severity type can be
associated with the message. This causes the system-defined messageType icons to
be displayed. You can control the type of buttons to appear with the OptionType
parameter.
Parms arg 1 = message string
arg 2 = msg type - a numeric value indicating the type of ICON to
display
0 = ERROR_MESSAGE;
1 = INFORMATION_MESSAGE;
2 = WARNING_MESSAGE;
3 = QUESTION_MESSAGE;
-1 = PLAIN_MESSAGE (Default)

arg 3 = optionType - a numeric value indicating the types of

buttons
0 = YES_NO buttons;
1 = YES_NO_CANCEL buttons;
2 = OK_CANCEL buttons;
-1 = DEFAULT ok /cancel button(default);

@return = a numeric value representing the button that was

pressed to dismiss the window
0 =
YES button or OK button;
1 =
NO button;
2 =
CANCEL button;
-1 =
CLOSED. The dialog was dismissed by closing
the dialog window - no button was pressed.
-2 = The message box was not responded to and the
timeout value was exceeded

Example:

msgBox(″The system is running″); // this will display a plain message, with OK

cancel button
Val = msgBox(″Invalid signon. Retry?″,0,1); // this will present an Error type
message, with the YES,NO,CANCEL buttons;

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Note: Since the msgBox is waiting for user input, it may take a long time before
the user responds. If it is running unattended, the user will never respond,
and the script will stall. For this reason, there is a timeout value associated
with this function. If the user does not respond within 10 minutes, the
dialog is automatically dismissed and a value of -2 returned.

Sleep
Sleep suspends the execution for the time interval specified
Parms Time interval1 - the number of milliseconds to wait
Return Returns zero if successful; minus one if an error

Example:

Sleep(1000); // sleep for 1 second;

Sleep(1000*60); // sleep for 1 minute

Note: The maximum amount of time permitted is 15 minutes (1000 * 60 * 15). If it

is necessary to wait longer, multiple sleep() functions can be issued.

Note: The sleep is an Active wait. The actual internal value is a 1 second wait. The
implementation uses a loop counter to issue the 1 second sleep. This
prevents a stall condition and allows the script to be stopped or aborted.

Emulator functions
The emulator built-in functions perform actions related to the navigation and
display of data in the terminal session. The session must be connected to a host in
order for these functions to execute. If the session is not connected, the function
will return with a default value of zero for numeric return values or a null string
for string values. If the function fails, a negative one (-1) will be returned.

Locations on the screen are referenced by Row/Column or by buffer offset (relative

0). Thus, the top left position would be Row 1, Column 1 or Location 0. Functions
that take a screen position accept either form. Screen locations (buffer offsets) yield
different Row/Column values depending on the screen size. For example, if the
terminal has 24 rows and 80 bytes, location 80 will be row 2, col 1. However, if it is
a model 5, location 80 will be row 1, col 81.

Disconnect
Disconnects the current session from the host. The script terminates when the
session disconnects.
Parms None
Return Returns 0 if success; -1 if an error

Example:

disconnect a ( ); // disconnects the current session

FindString
Use FindSring to find the string specified anywhere on the screen.
Parms Arg1 - string to search for
Return Returns the location of the string, or -1 if the string was not found
or the session gets disconnected

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Example:

user = findString(″Userid″); // find the string ″Userid″ and return its location
if ((findString(″OMEGAVIEW″) > 0) // is this the correct screen?

GetCursor
GetCursor returns the current location of the cursor. This is the buffer offset.
Parms None
Return Returns the relative location of the cursor, or -1 if an error occurs
or the terminal gets disconnected

Example:

Pos = getCursor(); // returns the cursor position

GetCursorCol
GetCursorCol returns the current column number of the cursor.
Parms None
Return Returns the integer value of the cursor column number, or -1 if an
error occurs or the terminal is disconnected

Example:

Col = getCursorCol(); // get cursor column number

GetCursorRow
GetCursorRow returns the current row number of the cursor.
Parms None
Return Returns the integer value of the cursor row number, or -1 if an
error occurs or the terminal is disconnected

Example:

Row = getCursorRow(); // get cursor row number

GetDefaultTimeout
GetDefaultTimeout returns the value of the WaitForScreen default Timeout.
Parms None
Return Returns the value of the WaitForScreen default Timeout in
milliseconds

Example:

TimeoutValue = getDefaultTimeout(); // returns the cursor wait for screen

timeout value

GetField
GetField retrieves the string from the field pointed to by location. The number of
characters is determined by the length of the field.
Parms Position - the position of the field on the screen. This can be a
ROW,COL or the relative location on the screen.

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Return Returns the string of characters from the field, or a null string if it
is an invalid field position

Example:

Applid = getField(5,1); // get the data in the field at Row 5, column 1

Applid = getField(80); // get the data from the field at location 80 - offset 80 (row
2 col 1 on a model 2)

Note: The location can be any valid location on the screen. The field containing
that address is referenced. Protected or unprotected data can be retrieved. If
the location is invalid, an error is generated and a null string is returned.

GetFontSize
GetFontSize gets the current Emulator screen font size.
Parms None
Return Returns an integer value of the Font point size

Example:

FontSize = getFontSize();// return the current Font size (in points)

GetProperty
GetProperty retrieves the value of a System Property.
Parms PropertyName - the name of the system property to retrieve,
enclosed in quotes
Return Returns the value of the property, or null if not found

Example:

Applid = getProperty(″APPLID″) // get the data from the APPLID variable

GetString
GetString retrieves the string from the location on the screen. The number of
characters is determined by the length parm.
Parms Position - the position on the screen. This can be a ROW,COL or
the relative location on the screen.
Length - number of characters to retrieve
Return Returns the string of characters from the location

Example:

Applid = getString(5,1,16); // get 16 characters from screen location Row 5,

column 1
Applid = getString(80,15); // get 15 characters from location 80 - offset 80 (row 2
col 1 on a model 2)

Note: The location can be any valid location on the screen, protected or
unprotected. If the location is invalid, an error is generated and a null string
is returned.

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Hide
Hides the terminal screen. This sets the terminal frame to not visible. It is used
when it is not desirable to show the actual screens that are being navigated. When
the script ends, or the session is disconnected, the screen will be shown.
Parms None
Return Returns 0 if successful, or -1 if there is an error or the terminal gets
disconnected

Example:

Hide(); // set the terminal window to not visible

Screencols
Screencols returns the number of columns on the screen. For a 3270 model 2 this
would be 80.
Parms None
Return Returns the number of columns on the screen, or -1 if there is an
error or the terminal gets disconnected

Example:

Cols = screenCols(); // returns the number of columns

Screenrows
Screenrows returns the number of rows on the screen. For a 3270 model 2 this
would be 24.
Parms None
Return Returns the number of rows on the screen, or -1 if there is an error
or the terminal gets disconnected

Example:

Rows = ScreenRows(); // returns the number of rows

SendKey
SendKey simulates pressing the corresponding AID key.
Parms String representation of the key to send
Return Returns 0 if successful, or -1 if there is an error or the terminal gets
disconnected

Example:

SendKey (″Enter″); // sends the Enter key. Any modified data on the screen will
be sent as part of the data stream.

The following values can be specified:

ENTER Enter key. Sends the modified data, cursor location and the AID
key.
RESET Resets and unlocks the keyboard. No data is sent to the host.
CLEAR Sends the CLEAR Aid key. Only the Aid key is sent.

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SYS_REQ Sends the System Request Aid.

ERASE_EOF Clears the Unprotected fields from the current cursor location to
the end of screen. No data is transmitted to the host.The fields are
set to nulls.
ERASE_INPUT
Clears the current field to nulls.
FIELD_MARK Transmits the FieldMark aid key.
HOME Puts the cursor at the first unprotected field on the screen.
TAB Places the cursor at the next unprotected field.
PA1, PA2, PA3
F1 through F24

The following special keys position the cursor:

HOME Puts the cursor at the first unprotected field on the screen.
TAB Places the cursor at the next unprotected field.

Note: The behavior and data that gets transmitted to the host are dependent on
the actual key being sent. The Enter and the Function keys send any
modified data fields, as well as the cursor location and the AID key. The
other AID keys send only the AID key.

Sendstring
Sendstring sets the string at the current cursor location and sends the data with the
Enter key.
Parms String to be sent
Return Returns 0 if successful, or -1 if there is an error or the terminal gets
disconnected

Example:

Sendstring (″ctsoa″); // enters the string ctsoa at the current cursor location and
sends the data with the Enter key

Setcursor
Setcursor positions the cursor on the terminal.
Parms Screen position can be either of the following:
ROW,COL - the Row and Column to position the cursor
Location - the relative location on the screen
Return Returns the relative location of the cursor, or -1 if there is an error
or the terminal gets disconnected

Example:

SetCursor(1,1); // sets the cursor to the top left position of the screen
SetCursor(80); // sets the cursor to offset 80 (This would be row 2, col 1 on a
24x80 terminal)

SetDefaultTimeout
SetDefaultTimeout sets the default timeout.

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Parms New wait time, in milliseconds. For example, 1000 is a one second
wait.
Return Returns the previous value of the WaitForScreen Timeout valued

Example:

oldTimeoutValue = setDefaultTimeout(10000); // override the timeout to 10

seconds

SetField
SetField places a string in the field containing the designated location The number
of characters is determined by the length of the string.
Parms String value - the string to be placed in the field
Position - a position on the screen that is part of a field.The
position must be in an Unprotected field.This can be a ROW,COL
or relative location on the screen.
Return Returns 0 if successful, or -1 if there is an error.

Example:

SetField(applid,5,1); // put the string pointed to by applid at the field containing

row 5,col 1
SetField(″ctsoa″,80); // put the string ctsoa at the fiedl containing offset 80 (row 2
col 1 on a model 2)

Note: If the location on the screen is not an Unprotected field, or if the length
exceeds the size of the field, an error will be generated; no data will be
placed.

SetFontSize
Sets a new font size.
Parms The new font size, in points
Return Returns the previous value of the font size

Example:

oldFontSize = setFontSize(16); // set the new Font size to 16 pt

Setstring
Setstring places a string at the designated location on the screen. The number of
characters is determined by the length of the string.
Parms String value - the string to be placed on the screen:
Position - the position on the screen. This can be a ROW,COL or
relative location on the screen.
Return Returns 0 if successful, or -1 if there is an error

Example:

SetString(applid,5,1); // put the string pointed to by the variable applid at row

5,col 1
SetString(″ctsoa″,80); // put the string ctsoa at offset 80 (row 2 col 1 on a model 2)

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Note: If the location on the screen is not an Unprotected field, or if the length
exceeds the size of the field, an error will be generated and no data will be
placed.

Show
Shows the terminal screen. This sets the terminal frame to visible.
Parms None
Return Returns the relative location of the cursor, or -1 if there is an error
or the terminal gets disconnected

Example:

Show(); // set the terminal window to visible

WaitforScreen
WaitForScreen waits for a screen of data to be received from the host.
Parms arg 1 = Timeout value. This is the length of time to wait, in
milliseconds.
If no data is received by this time, processing continues
If no value is specified, a default of 15 minutes is assume
Return Returns a numeric value specifying the result of the function:
0 = data was received
-1 = timeout. No data was received within the time specified

Example:

waitforscreen(); // wait until a screen is received (or 15 minutes has elapsed)

waitforscreen(15*1000) // wait for up to 15 seconds

Note: Since the WaitforScreen is waiting for input, it may take a long time before a
screen is received. If a stall has occurred and the system is not responding,
the script will stall. For this reason, there is a timeout value associated with
this function. If no data is received for 10 minutes, the wait is cancelled
automatically and a value of -1 is returned.

WaitForString
WaitForString waits for a screen containing the specified data at the specified
location to be received.
Parms arg 1 = The string to wait for
arg2 = The row,column position of the data
arg3 = Timeout value. This is the length of time to wait, in
milliseconds.
If no data is received by this time, processing will continue.
If no value is specified, a default of 15 minutes is assumed
Return Returns a numeric value specifying the result of the function:
0 = data was received
-1 = timeout. No data was received within the time specified

Example:

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Waitforstring(″Userid″,5,1); // wait until a screen is received that has the string

″Userid″ at row 5 col 1
Waitforstring (″Userid″,5,1 1000*15) // wait for up to 15 seconds

Note: Since the waitforstring is waiting for input, it may take a long time before a
screen is received. If a stall has occurred and the system is not responding,
the script will stall. For this reason, there is a timeout value associated with
this function. If no data is received within 10 minutes, the wait will be
cancelled automatically and a value of -1 will be returned.

Sample script—Omegaview Zoom

The following example shows sample script for an Omegaview Zoom. It
demonstrates the constructs of the script language through user-defined functions,
local variables, flow control and built-in emulator functions.
/*
Omegaview Zoom Emulator Script
Copyright(c) !IBM Corporation 2002, 2005
*/
// ---------------------------------------
// Check for Signon Panel
// 0 = not found
// 1 = found
// ---------------------------------------
int FUNCTION signonPanel()
{
if ((findString("OMEGAVIEW") > 0) AND
(findString("Sign On Panel") > 0) AND
(findString("Userid") > 0) AND
(findString("Password") > 0) )
return TRUE;
else
return FALSE;
}

// ---------------------------------------
// Check for Signon Error
// return 0 if no error
// 1 if the SignonError pop-up found
// ---------------------------------------
int FUNCTION signonErrorpop-up()
{
if ((findString("OMEGAVIEW") > 0) AND
(findString("User access denied") > 0) )
return TRUE;

return FALSE;
}

// ---------------------------------------
// Goto Command Panel
// 0 = not found
// 1 = found
// ---------------------------------------
int FUNCTION gotoCommandPanel()
{
rc = TRUE; // be optimistic

if (findString(CMD_PANEL_ID) < 0)
{
sendkey(DEFHOTKEY_CODE);
waitforScreen();
if (findString(CMD_PANEL_ID) < 0)
rc = FALSE; // not found

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return rc;
}

void FUNCTION displayError(int errCode)

{
if (errCode == 4)
msgBox("Application not available");
else if(errCode == 8)
msgBox("Application not available - no signon Panel");
else if (errCode == 16)
msgBox("Invalid Signon request");
else if (errCode == 24)
msgBox ("Internal Error - command Panel not found");
else
msgBox ("Unknown Error. rc = " + errCode);
}
// ---------------------------------------
// LOGON
// @param - user userid
// @param - pswd password
//
// @returns 0, success
// 4, no logo screen
// 8, no signon Panel
// 16, signon error
// 24, no command Panel

int FUNCTION logon(string user,string pswd)

{
rc = 0;
if (user == null || user == "")
return 1;

sendkey("HOME");
sendkey("TAB");sendkey("TAB");sendkey("TAB");
sendstring("VGMVH"); // applid
waitforscreen();
waitforscreen(); // OV sends two screens (unlock)

while (1)
{
if( findString("Press Enter to begin") < 0)
{
rc = 4;
break;
}
// We have the Logo screen
setCursor(1,1);
sendkey("ENTER");
waitforScreen();

// Did we get the Signon Panel?

if (signonPanel() == FALSE)
{
rc = 8; // no Logo
break;
}

// do we have the F11 screen?

if (findString("F11=CMW") < 0) // not found
{
// go the 4th field and do the magic
sendKey("HOME");sendKey("TAB");sendKey("TAB");sendKey("TAB");

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setString("MVPM");
sendKey("TAB");
setString("MVPM");

}
else
{
sendKey("F11");
waitforScreen();
setstring("MVPM");
sendKey("F24");
WaitForScreen();
}
// now continue the logon
sendKey("HOME");
setString(user);
sendKey("TAB");
setString(pswd);
sendKey("ENTER");
waitforScreen();

// if an error...
if (signonErrorpop-up() == TRUE)
{
sendkey("F12"); // clear the pop-up
waitForScreen();
sendkey("F3"); // end the session
waitForScreen();
;rc= 16; // signon error
break;
}
rc = gotoCommandPanel();
if (rc != 1)
{
rc = 24;
break;
}
rc=0;
break;
}

// success
return rc;
}

// Main Program starts here

CMD_PANEL_ID = "KMVPMMAI";
DEFHOTKEY_CODE = "PA2";
EDITKEY_TAG = "=Cancel";
DEF_EDITKEY_TAG= "F12";

// prompt for the userid and password

// (can get this from system vars...)
userid = prompt("Enter UserID");
pswd = prompt("Enter Password","PSWD");

hide(); // don’t show them the screen flicker

// perform the Logon

logon_complete = logon(userid,pswd);

if (logon_complete != 0)
{
displayError(logon_complete);
return;

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// Logon was successful. So Zoom to the Omegamon

// (we’re hard wire to IMS Workload
// until system parm passing is supported)
//
Setstring("KMVPMZM1");
sendkey("TAB");
setString("imsdc.wrt");
sendKey("ENTER");
waitforScreen();

show(); // show the results (should be the Omegamon screen)

// we don’t want to show the Omegaview Command Screen

// so when they dismiss the Omegamon zoom, we will disconnect
while (1)
{
waitforScreen(20000);
if (findString(CMD_PANEL_ID) >= 0)
{
sendKey(DEF_EDITKEY_TAG);
waitforScreen();
break;
}
}

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Appendix A. Formula functions

More than a dozen formula functions are available for use in expressions. The
functions available for a particular attribute depend on whether the attribute is
numeric, text, or timestamp, and in which editor you are working: Query,
Properties - Filters, Properties - Threshold, or Situation.

Formula editors
Formula editors are in the:
v Filters tab and Thresholds tab of the Properties editor
v Specification tab of the Query editor
v Condition tab of the Situation editor

These editors enable you to build expressions using formula functions.

When you open a view that contains a filter or threshold, or start a situation, the
sampled value of the referenced attribute is compared with the expression. A true
comparison causes the value to be filtered into the view, show as a threshold cell,
or open an event.

For example, the following expression uses the VALUE formula function and can
be read as, “When the VALUE of Day of Week is greater than or equal to 2
(Monday) and the VALUE of Day of Week is less than or equal to 6 (Friday), the
comparison is true.”

Day of Week Day of Week

1 >= 2 <= 6

Here is another example using the MIN formula function, which is a group
function. This formula finds the process with the lowest priority base. If this
process also uses 20% or more privileged time, the comparison is true.

Priority Base % Privileged Time

1 == *TRUE >= 20

Every editor has a pop-up menu for adjusting the cells:

v Cut and Copy to move or copy the contents of the cell or row to the clipboard
v Paste to add the contents of the clipboard to the cell or row
v Insert to add a new row above this one
v Delete to remove the entire row or column
v Clear contents to remove the expression from the cell, row or column.

Attribute characteristics
Formula functions treat attributes as numeric, text or timestamp. Attributes also
have other characteristics that further categorize them.

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Numeric

Numeric attributes may represent a percentage, seconds, bytes or some other unit
of measurement.

When entering a hexadecimal value in a cell, prefix the number with zero and the
letter “x”, as in 0x123ab for hex value 123ab. In MVS applications, for example,
DASD volume serial numbers are hexadecimal.

Text

Single quotes are required around multiple-word text values.

The timestamp and, usually, enumerated attributes are treated as text attributes.

Timestamp

The Timestamp attribute is treated like a text attribute formatted as mm/dd/yy

hh:mm:ss. Some timestamp attributes have different names, such as Start Date &
Time and Recording Time.

Some timestamp functions enable you to add and subtract values from the second
attribute by using the + and - symbols. The value can be one or two digits
followed by D for Day, H for Hour, M for Minute, or S for Second.

Enumerated

Enumerated attributes have a predefined set of values and the tabular editor
supplies a list to choose from. These values are usually treated as text.

Some enumerated values are actually numeric, with text representing some or all
of the numbers, and you can type the numeric value instead of choosing a text
equivalent from a list. For example, the WebSphere MQ attribute, Action to Take has
values of n/a, delete, create, and discover. But you can also enter 5 or 6, which
represent other actions. See the help topic of the attribute in question for a list of
possible entries.

Single-row or multiple-row
Depending on the type of attribute group, data samplings return either a single
row of data or multiple rows. For example, the Windows Memory attribute group
returns one row of a data for a managed system, whereas the Windows Process
attribute group returns multiple rows, one for each process running.

A single-row attribute group will return multiple rows if it has been configured for
historical data collection.

Attributes from different attribute groups can be combined in the same situation if
they are from single-row attribute groups. Local Time and Universal Time are the
exception—they can be combined with any group.

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When you create a query for an attribute group that returns multiple rows,
consider adding a pre-filter to limit the rows returned to those of interest, which
also reduces network overhead.

Cell Functions
Cell functions are available for both single-row and multiple-row attribute groups.

Numeric attributes Text attributes Time attributes

Value of expression Value of expression Return a subset of the
string
See if value is within a Return a subset of the Scan for string within a
range string string
Scan for string within a Compare date/time
Change in value string
Check for Missing Items Compare to time +/- delta
Percent change in value See if a time is within a
range

Numeric attributes
VALUE is the default—and most commonly used—function, and is available in all
editors; BETWEEN is available in every editor but Situation.

Hexadecimal: When entering a hexadecimal value in a cell, prefix the number with
zero and the letter “x”, as in 0x123ab for hex value 123ab.

Value of expression

Takes the sampled value of the attribute. When used with other functions, VALUE
is evaluated before the others, acting as a filter to the other functions. Example as
it appears in Show Formula:

VALUE(CPU Utilization)> 50

This formula looks through all CPU Utilization values. If one is over 50% the
comparison is true.

Tip: For situations on multiple-row attribute groups, you can add a display item
(in the Condition tab, click Advanced) to open an event for each row that
meets the condition and not just the first one.

See if value is within a range

See if value is within a range (BETWEEN) compares all values between two
numbers. When you select the function, the Range Parameters window opens.
Enter the first and last numbers in the value range. The only relational operators
available are == Equal and != Not Equal.

Exclude range start/end from evaluation, when left unchecked, includes the
values entered in the range. The expression ends with 0 if this is left unchecked; 1
if it is checked.

Example as it appears in Show Formula:

BETWEEN (Copy Read Hits %) == 50,60,1

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The comparison is true if Copy Read Hits is between 50% and 60%.

Change in value
Change in value takes the amount of change between the sampled value of the
attribute and the previous value, then compares it with the value you enter here. If
the result meets the comparison, the situation is true. Valid values are numeric
integers. Example as it is displayed in Show Formula:
CHANGE (Virtual Bytes) >= 100

If the Virtual Bytes have increased by at least 100 bytes since the last data
sampling, the situation is true. For example, during the first monitor iteration the
value of Virtual Bytes is 200; during the second iteration the value is 500. Since the
metric increased by 300 between samples, the situation would be true.

Restrictions:
v You can have only one CHANGE function in a situation.
v The CHANGE function must be written on row 1 of the formula editor; all
subsequent rows are disabled.
v You cannot combine the CHANGE function with a PCTCHANGE, MISSING or
group function in a situation.
v A formula with the CHANGE function can use values from one attribute group
only.
v The function list shows CHANGE for monitoring agents that are of the correct
version; older versions will not display CHANGE in the list.

Percent change in value

Percent change in value takes the percentage change between the sampled
value of the attribute and the previous value, then compares it with what you
enter here. If the result meets the comparison, the situation is true. Valid values are
numeric integers. Example as it is displayed in :

PCTCHANGE (% Processor Time) >= 50

This situation is true when the memory usage of a process increases by 50% or
more between sampling intervals.

Restrictions:
v You can have only one PCTCHANGE function in a situation.
v The PCTCHANGE function must be written on row 1 of the formula editor and
all subsequent rows are disabled.
v You cannot combine the PCTCHANGE function with a PCTCHANGE, MISSING
or group function in a situation.
v A formula with the PCTCHANGE function can use values from one attribute
group only.
v The function list shows PCTCHANGE for monitoring agents that are of the
correct version; older versions will not display PCTCHANGE in the list.

Text attributes
VALUE, STR and SCAN are available in all editors; MISSING is for the Situation
editor only.

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Value of expression

Takes the sampled value of the attribute. When used with other functions, VALUE
is evaluated before the others, acting as a filter to the functions. Examples as they
appear in Show Formula:

VALUE(System Name) == redwood

The comparison is true if the system name is redwood.

VALUE(Log Name) == S*

This will find System and Security. This formula uses a wildcard to find log files that
start with uppercase S.

If the formula is for multiple-row attribute group in a situation, add a display item
(in the Condition tab, click Advanced) if you want an event opened for every
occurrence of the condition that evaluates to true and not just the first occurrence.

Return a subset of the string

Searches for text occurring at a specific location in the data returned by the
attribute.When you select STR, a Substring Comparison Information window opens
for you to enter the starting position of the string, such as 4 for the fourth
character from the left to begin looking for the string and what to look for.
Examples as they appear in Show Formula:

STR(Handle of the User) == 2,ar

This formula looks for ar starting with the second character in returned values for
Handle of the User, so aardvark, parrot and sardine meet the comparison, but not
artist, star or SARDINE (case-sensitive).

Scan for string within a string

Searches for text occurring anywhere in the data returned by the attribute.
Examples as they appear in Show Formula:

SCAN(Owner) == ABC

This formula scans the value of Owner for ABC anywhere in the text. For example,
an owner named ABCDEF would meet the comparison.

SCAN(Process Name) == *pad

This formula uses a wildcard to scan the value of ProcessName for pad at the end
of the text, so wordpad and notepad would meet the comparison.

Check for Missing Items

Compares the value of the specified text attribute with a list of values you supply.
The condition is true when the value does not match any in the list. This function

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is for useful when you want notification that something is not present in your
system. Examples as they appear in Show Formula:

MISSING (ProcessName) == (VirusGone.exe)

An event opens when the anti-virus scanning program is not available.

(MISSING (ProcessName) == (VirusGone.exe,DBServer.exe,iexplore.exe))AND

ServerName == SERVER*

This example builds on the last one. Two names were added to the Missing List
and a system name specified with a wildcard. An event will open if any of these
processes is missing on any system whose name starts with SERVER (such as
SERVER_BLDG100 or SERVERSOUTH). If you wanted to be notified when this is
the case, you could add a notification action to be executed when the situation
becomes true.

Tip: If the formula is for a multiple-row attribute group, add a display item (in the
Condition tab, click Advanced) if you want the situation to continue testing
for missing items after opening an event for the first one.

Note: You can have no more than one MISSING in a situation and it cannot be
combined with any functions except VALUE.

Time attributes
STR, SCAN and DATE are available in all editors; TIME is in all editors except
Query; and TIMESPAN is available only in the Properties editor.

Return a subset of the string

Searches for text occurring at a specific location in the data returned by the
attribute.When you select STR, a Substring Comparison Information window opens
for you to enter the starting position of the string, such as 4 for the fourth
character from the left to begin looking for the string and what to look for.
Example as it appears in Show Formula:

STR(Timestamp) == 7,03

This formula begins looking at the seventh character, the year, to find 03, so a
timestamp of 07/12/03 09:29:05 would meet the criteria but 01/20/04 11:07:05
would not.

Scan for string within a string

Searches for text occurring anywhere in the data returned by the attribute.
Example as it appears in Show Formula:

SCAN(Timestamp) == 07/03

This formula scans the timestamp for a value of 07/03. A date of 07/03/04 would
meet the comparison as would 12/07/03.

Compare date/time

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This is the default function for time attributes. Compares the Timestamp value
from the data sampling with the value entered here. When you select the DATE
function and click inside the value cell, the Select the Time Comparison window
opens so you can select the exact date and time to compare.The format is the date
as seen in the date columns (mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss) or as defined for your locale.
Example as it appears in Show Formula:

DATE(Timestamp) == 09/30/03 23:59:00

This formula checks the Timestamp attribute value. When it matches the date set
here, the comparison is true.

Compare to time +/- delta

Compares the time difference you enter with the timestamp returned by an
attribute.After you select the TIME function and click inside the value cell, the
Select Time Comparison Criteria window opens. Select a timestamp attribute from
the list. Specify the delta by combining + or - with the number of days (D), hours
(H), minutes (M), or seconds (S). The sampled timestamps are compared to the
delta. Example as it appears in Show Formula:

TIME(Entry Time) == #NT_Event_Log.Timestamp - 7D

This formula compares the time the event was logged (Entry Time) with the
timestamp from the data sampling. If the event occurred seven days earlier, the
comparison is true. If the == were changed to <=, the comparison would be true
after eight days, nine days, and so on.

See if a time is within a range

Used to filter a chart or table, or for a threshold in a table. It selects rows based on
the comparison of the Timestamp value to the time span indicated. When you
select this function and click inside the value cell, the Select Time Span window
opens for you to choose a time span. Note that only the == and != relational
operators are available for this function. Example as it appears in Show Formula:

TIMESPAN(Timestamp) == ,,7200

This formula selects all rows with timestamps within the last two hours.

Group Functions
Use these functions on attribute groups that return multiple rows of data or a
single-row attribute group that has been configured for historical data collection.
With the exception of COUNT, which can be used by all attribute types, Group
functions are available only for numeric attributes.

Minimum in group
Maximum in group
Count of group members
Average of group
Sum of group

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Notes:
1. Time Span selection is not available for a table or chart view if it uses a
query that includes one of these functions.
2. When entering a hexadecimal value in a cell, prefix the number with zero and
the letter “x”, as in 0x456c for hex value 456c.

Minimum in group

For attributes that return multiple rows, finds the lowest returned value (or
values).

Query editor: Example as it would be written in an SQL statement:

MIN(Priority Base)

This function finds the process with the lowest priority base. GROUP BY is Server
Name, so the view will show the process with the lowest priority base on each
system.

Situation editor: The relational operator is set to == and the value to TRUE. The
MIN function is meaningful when combined with another expression. Example as
it appears in Show Formula:

MIN(Priority Base)== *TRUE AND % Privileged Time >= 20

This formula finds the process with the lowest priority base. If it also has more
than 20% privileged time, the comparison is true.

Maximum in group

For attributes that return multiple rows, finds the highest returned value (or
values).

Query editor: Example as it would be written in an SQL statement:

MAX(Thread Count)

This function finds the process with the highest thread count. GROUP BY is Server
Name, so the view will show the process with the highest thread count on each
system.

Situation editor: The relational operator is set to == and the value to TRUE. The
MAX function is meaningful when combined with another expression. Example as
it appears in Show Formula:

MAX(Thread Count) == *TRUE AND Virtual Bytes >= 150,000,000

This formula finds the process with the highest thread count. If it also has more
than 150 million virtual bytes, the comparison is true.

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Count of group members

Counts all returned rows, which may be filtered by an AND expression.

COUNT in a query to the monitoring server works differently than it does in a

situation: It counts the column specified within the group referenced (Advanced
button, Group By tab), and displays the result in the count column.

Query editor: Example as it would be written in an SQL statement:

COUNT(ID_Process)

This function counts the number of processes. GROUP BY is Server Name, and the
number of processes counted for each system appears in the ID Process column.

Situation editor: Examples as they appear in Show Formula:

COUNT(Timestamp) > 10

The comparison is true when more than 10 rows have been counted.

(Process Name) == notepad AND COUNT(Timestamp) > 4

This formula first filters the rows for those with the notepad process, then counts
the returned rows by referencing the Timestamp attribute. The attribute used for
the count does not matter, because the COUNT function is simply counting the
number of rows where this attribute appears. When the count exceeds four, the
comparison is true.

The next formula counts the processes that have been running for more than an
hour. When at least five processes have been counted, the comparison is true.

(Elapsed Time (Seconds) >= 3600)) AND COUNT(Timestamp) >= 5

Note that when using COUNT in an AND expression, it must be the last function
in the expression.

Average of group

Totals the values that meet the comparison, then averages them.

Query editor: Example as it would be written in an SQL statement:

AVG(% User Time)

This function averages all returned values of % User Time. GROUP BY is Server
Name, so the view will show the average user time, one row for each managed
system.

Situation editor: This calculated average is compared with the value specified and, if
there is a match, the comparison is true. Example as it appears in Show
Formula:

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AVG (% User Time) > 20

This formula averages all returned values of % User Time. If the average exceeds
20%, the comparison is true.

Sum of group

Takes the attribute values that meet the criteria and totals them.

Query editor: Example as it would be written in an SQL statement:

SUM(CPU Utilization)

This formula totals all CPU Utilization values in the data sampling. GROUP BY is
Server Name, so the view will show the total for each managed system.

Situation editor: Example as shown in Show Formula:

SUM(CPU Utilization) > 50 AND System Name == redwood

This formula totals all CPU Utilization values in the data sampling from the
system named redwood. If the sum of these values exceeds 50%, the comparison is
true.

Boolean AND and OR

The tabular editors work with Boolean AND and OR logic.

Multiple expressions
Enter multiple expressions in the same row if they must all be met (Boolean AND
logic) and on separate rows if any of them may be met (Boolean OR logic) to set
the situation to true.

For example, if you want a situation to fire when either disk time OR disk space is
at least 90% on myserver, the condition would look like the one shown here.

% Disk Time % Used Server Name

1 >= 90 == myserver

2 >= 90 == myserver

Branching OR expressions
If you are building a situation or setting a filter or threshold where you want an
OR expression to branch at a specific AND expression, repeat the AND expression
in a new row with the OR expression.

In the situation example below, the comparisons are true if the notepad process
exceeds 50 seconds AND the virtual bytes exceed one million OR the notepad
process on myserver exceeds 50 seconds AND the page faults exceed 100,000 per
second.

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Process Name Elapsed Time Virtual Bytes Page Faults/sec

1 == notepad > 500000 > 1000000

2 == notepad > 500000 > 100000

Repeating attributes in AND expressions

Some formulas require you to repeat the same attribute in an AND expression for
a certain outcome. The Situation editor has one method for repeating the attribute,
and the Properties editor has another. The method given for the Properties editor
can also be used for the Situation editor.

Tip: You can double-click in the value text box to see and select an available
attribute from the Select Value window. Be sure the text box is clear before
double-clicking or the value will be inserted between existing text, and the
formula syntax will be incorrect.

Situation editor
If you are constructing a situation that requires repeating an attribute, each
instance of the attribute must appear in its own column. To repeat an attribute in
another column of the Situation editor:
v Click Add Conditions and select it from the Select condition window.

Examples:

The situation is true when the notepad process occurs more four times in the same
data sampling. The user wrote the first expression to check for notepad, then
clicked Add Conditions and selected Process Name again to create a new column
and add another expression to count these processes.

Process Name Process Name

1 == notepad > 4

The situation is true when the day of the week is 02 to 06 (Monday to Friday).

Day of Week Day of Week

1 >= 2 <= 6

If the condition already has another attribute to the right of the one you wish to
repeat, use the formula bar method described for the Properties editor, next. This
method is required because attributes are added after all other columns in the
condition.

Properties editor – Thresholds and Filters tabs

The Properties editor allows you to create only one column per attribute. Use the
Formula bar to type the AND (&&) expression.

The syntax is:

AND (#attribute > 10)

where

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v attribute is the attribute name to compare. Double-click to see and select from a
list of possible names.
v > is the relational operator. See the list below.
v 10 is the value to compare. If this is a text or timestamp value with a space in it,
enclose it in single quotes (’).

Operator Abbreviation or Symbol to use

Equal ==
Not equal !=
Greater than >
Greater than or equal >=
Less than <
Less than or equal <=

Examples:

The comparison is true when the notepad process occurs more four times in the
same data sampling. The user wrote the first expression, Process Name ==
notepad, in the tabular editor, then clicked inside the formula bar to add the rest,
double-clicking to see and select Process Name from a list: AND COUNT
(#’Process Name > 4).

Process Name == notepad AND COUNT (#’Process Name > 4)

Here is another process name example, which filters out the “Idle” and “Total”
processes from the table or chart view. It is written with && instead of AND to
show the other acceptable form:

Process Name != Idle && (#’Process Name != _Total)

The following comparison is true when the day of the week is 02, 03, 04, or 05
(Monday through Thursday):

Day OF Week >= 02 AND ( #’LOCALTIME.DAYOFWEEK <= 05)

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Appendix B. Command reference

IBM Tivoli Monitoring commands are run from the command line. This appendix
describes the commands for situations. For installation and configuration
commands, see the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Installation and Setup Guide; for
configuration and administrative commands, see IBM Tivoli Monitoring
Administrator’s Guide.

Note: Be aware that if you are observing the same reporting in the portal user
interface as you are at the command line, there may be some minor variance
in the values.

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tacmd createSit

Description
Use the tacmd createSit command to create a new situation.

CLI syntax
tacmd createSit {-s|--situation} SITNAME {-t|--type} TYPE {–p|--property|--
properties} NAME=VALUE ...

tacmd createSit {-i|--import} [FILENAME]

-s|--situation
This is the name of the new situation, up to 32 letters, numbers,
underscores (_).
-t|--type
Specifies the managed system type or two-character product code. Use
viewDepot to get a list of valid managed system types.
-p|--property|--properties
Specifies one or more NAME=VALUE pairs that identify the properties of
the new situation and their values. Valid property names are:
v Desc or Description
v Interval
v Formula
v Distribution
v Advice
v Action
v RunOnStart
-b|--basedOn
Specifies the name of the situation on which you are basing the new
situation. The new situation will be identical to the base situation except
for the name and any situation properties that are specified on the
command line.
-i|--import
Specifies the situation definition to import.

CLI example
The command in this example creates a new situation called SpaceLow with a
formula that tests the usage percentage attribute from the Windows LogInfo group.
A 95% or higher capacity causes an event to open and the advice given is Clear log.
tacmd createSit -s SpaceLow -p Formula=(#’NTLOGINFO.USAGE’ >= 95) Advice=Clear log

Return values
See “Return codes” on page 228

Related commands
“tacmd deleteSit” on page 219 “tacmd editSit” on page 220 “tacmd listSit” on page
222 “tacmd viewDepot” on page 226 “tacmd viewSit” on page 227

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tacmd deleteSit

Description
Use the tacmd deleteSit command to delete a situation from your environment.

CLI syntax
tacmd deleteSit {–s|--situation} SITNAME [{–f|--force}]
-s|--situation
Specifies the name of the situation to delete.
-f|--force
Disables the message that asks if you are sure you want to delete the
situation.

CLI example
The command in this example deletes the situation named My_Situation without
asking the user to confirm.
tacmd deleteSit -s My_Situation -f

Return values
See “Return codes” on page 228

Related commands
“tacmd createSit” on page 218; “tacmd editSit” on page 220; “tacmd listSit” on
page 222; “tacmd viewSit” on page 227.

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tacmd editSit

Description
Use the tacmd editSitcommand to edit a situation.

CLI syntax
tacmd editSit {-s|--situation} SITNAME {–p|--property|--properties}
NAME=VALUE

... [-f|--force] tacmd editSit {-l|--local} [FILENAME ] } {–p|--property|--

properties} NAME=VALUE ...
-s|--situation
Specifies the name of the situation to edit.
-p|--property|--properties
Specifies one or more NAME=VALUE pairs that identify the properties of
the new situation and their values. Valid property names are:
v Desc or Description
v Interval
v Formula
v Distribution
v Advice
v Action
v RunOnStart
-f|--force
Disables the message that asks if you are sure you want to edit the
situation.
-l|--local
Indicates the FILENAME of the local situation definition to edit, so no
changes are made to the situation definition on the monitoring server.

CLI example
The command in the example edits the No_Transactions definition to not run at
startup, which requires the situation to be started manually.
tacmd editSit -s No_Transactions -p RunOnStart=NO

Return values
See “Return codes” on page 228

Related commands
“tacmd createSit” on page 218 “tacmd deleteSit” on page 219 “tacmd listSit” on
page 222 “tacmd viewSit” on page 227

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tacmd help

Description
Use the tacmd help command to display the name of all the available CLI
commands along with a short description of each command.

CLI syntax
tacmd help or tacmd ?

CLI example
tacmd help login

or
tacmd ? login

This command returns a description of the login command.

Return values
See “Return codes” on page 228

Related commands
“tacmd logout” on page 225

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tacmd listSit

Description
The tacmd listSit command lists the situations on the hub monitoring server. You
can optionally filter the list for those distributed to a particular managed system or
managed system type.

CLI syntax
tacmd listSit [{-d|--delim} DELIM] [{-n|--noheader}]

tacmd listSit [{-d|--delim} DELIM] [{-n|--noheader}] {-m|--system|--systems}

SYSTEM ...

tacmd listSit [{-d|--delim} DELIM] [{-n|--noheader}] {-t|--type|--types} TYPE ...

-d|--delim
Separates the fields with the delimiter. DELIM can be be made up of
letters, numbers, dollar signs ($), ampersands (&), hash marks (#), and
underscores (_).
-n|--noheader
Excludes a header line from the list.
-m|--system|--systems
Restricts the list of situations to those distributed to the managed system
or managed systems specified.
-t|--type|--types
Restricts the situation list to those of the specified managed system type
name or its two-character product code. Use viewDepot to get a list of
valid managed system types.

CLI example
tacmd listSit –d “,” -n

This command lists all situations on the monitoring server separated by commas
and without a header. The result:
Candle Management Server,QOMEGAMON_ONLINE
Generic Configuration,NonPrimeShift
Generic Configuration,PrimeShift
Generic Configuration,Weekday
Windows NT,NT_Available_Bytes_Critical
Windows NT,NT_Available_Bytes_Warning
Windows NT,NT_Bottleneck_Disk

tacmd listSit –-type “Universal Database”

This command lists all the Universal Database situations. The result:
TYPE NAME STATUS
Universal Database UDB_Database_Lock_Warning Open
Universal Database UDB_Status_Warning Started

Return values
See “Return codes” on page 228

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Related commands
“tacmd createSit” on page 218 “tacmd deleteSit” on page 219 “tacmd editSit” on
page 220 “tacmd viewDepot” on page 226 “tacmd viewSit” on page 227

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tacmd login

Description
Use the tacmd login command to authenticate with the operating system and
create a security token, necessary for issuing subsequent tacmd commands during
this work session.

CLI syntax
tacmd login {-s|--server} {[PROTOCOL://]HOST[:PORT]} [{-u|--username}
USERNAME] [{-p|--password} PASSWORD] [{-t|--timeout} TIMEOUT]

where:
-s|--server
Specifies the host name of the monitoring server to log in to for this work
session.
-u|--user
Specifies the user to authenticate on this operating system.
-p|--password
Specifies the password of the user to authenticate on this operating system.
-t|--timeout
Specifies the number of minutes that can pass between invocations of
tacmd before the user is denied access to run tacmd. The default timeout is
15 minutes; the maximim timeout you can set is 1440 minutes (24 hours).
If a user name and password are not specified, you are prompted for them.
Enter a name and password valid for the workstation.

CLI example
This command logs into the monitoring server on pebble.ibm.com with the user
name, administrator, the password, mypassword, and a login expiration time of 120
minutes.
tacmd login –s pebble.ibm.com –u administrator –p mypassword –t 120

Return values
See “Return codes” on page 228

Related commands
“tacmd logout” on page 225

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tacmd logout

Description
Use the tacmd logout command to disable the security token created by the tacmd
login command.

CLI syntax
tacmd logout

CLI example
This commands logs the user out of the tacmd session.
tacmd logout

Return values
See “Return codes” on page 228

Related commands
“tacmd login” on page 224

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tacmd viewDepot

Description
Use the tacmd viewDepot command to display the types of monitoring agents you
can install from the deployment depot on the hub monitoring server or the
specified remote server.

CLI syntax
tacmd viewDepot [{{-j|--depot} DEPOT}]
-j|--depot
Specifies the name of the remote server that hosts the depot when you are
logged into the hub monitoring server.

CLI example
The following command displays the contents of the deployment depot on the
Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server you logged into using the tacmd login
command:
tacmd viewDepot

The following command displays the contents of the deployment depot on the
remote monitoring server, REMOTE_ROCK, which connects to the hub monitoring
server. You must log into the hub monitoring server before running this command:
tacmd viewdepot -j REMOTE_ROCK

Return values
See “Return codes” on page 228

Related commands
See tacmd listBundles, tacmd addBundles, and tacmd removeBundles in the IBM
Tivoli Monitoring Installation and Setup Guide.

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tacmd viewSit

Description
Use the viewSit command to see the definition of a situation in your monitored
environment.

CLI syntax
tacmd viewSit {-s|--situation} SITNAME[{-m|--system} SYSTEM] [{-e|--export}
[FILENAME] ]]
-s|--situation
Specifies the name of the situation to view.
-m|--system
Specifies the managed system to view the situation definition for. Without
this parameter, the global situation definition will be returned.
-e|--export
Exports the situation definition to a file of the name specified.

CLI example
This example displays the definition for the situation named CalcMonitor and
exports the details to a file named CalcMonitor.sit, which can then be used to create
a new situation based on the original.
tacmd viewSit --situation CalcMonitor --export CalcMonitorOut.sit

Return values
See “Return codes” on page 228

Related commands
“tacmd createSit” on page 218 “tacmd deleteSit” on page 219 “tacmd editSit” on
page 220 “tacmd listSit” on page 222 “tacmd viewDepot” on page 226

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Return codes
Table 13. Return Codes for tacmd CLI commands
Code Category Description
0 Success Indicates that the command was successful.
1 Syntax Error or Indicates either that the help command was given or that the
Help syntax used was incorrect.
2 No Permission Indicates that the user does not have permission to issue the
command.
3 Version Mismatch Indicates that the version of the server is not what was
expected.
4 Communication Indicates that an error occurred in the communications with
Error the server.
5 Timeout Indicates that an operation waiting for data did not receive it
within the time it was expected.
6 Input Error Indicates that the input to the command was not what was
expected.
7 Server Exception Indicates that an error occurred on the server that caused the
command to fail.
8 Command Error Indicates that an internal error occurred while executing the
command.
9 Invalid Object Indicates that a specified object does not exist.

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Appendix C. Glossary
A
administration mode. Same as workspace administration mode.

AF/Operator. An IBM console automation solution for the z/OS environment, designed to support data center
operations, such as managing messages.

agent. Software installed on systems you want to monitor that collects data about an operating system, subsystem,
or application.

alert. A warning message that appears at a console to indicate an event has occurred that may require intervention.

alert monitor. A monitoring agent that monitors and relays alert information to the monitoring server. Sources of
alerts include message logs, system consoles, and network and system management products.

associate. The relationship between a situation and a Navigator item that enables a light to go on and a sound to
play for an open event. Predefined situations are associated automatically, as are situations created or edited through
the Navigator item pop-up menu. When you open the Situation editor from the toolbar, any situations you create
cannot be associated with a Navigator item during this editing session. You need to close the Situation editor, then
open it again from the pop-up menu of the Navigator item with which the situation should be associated.

attribute. A system or application element being monitored by the monitoring agent, such as Disk Name and Disk
Read/Writes Per Second. An attribute can also be a field in an ODBC-compliant database.

attribute group. A set of related attributes that can be combined in a data view or a situation. When you open the
view or start the situation, data samples of the selected attributes are retrieved. Each type of monitoring agent has a
set of attribute groups.

B
browser client. The software installed with the Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server system that is downloaded to your
computer when you start Tivoli Enterprise Portal browser mode.

C
chart. (1) A graphical view of data returned from a monitoring agent. A data point is plotted for each attribute
chosen and, for bar and pie charts, a data series for each row. Types of charts include pie, bar, plot and gauge. (2)
CICS

Customer Information Control System. IBM’s main on-line transaction processing subsystem that runs under MVS,
VSE, OS/2, OS/400, and AIX.

class file. A file containing Java object code for a single Java class.

class loader. A Java component that is responsible for loading Java classes.

client/server. An architecture in which the client (personal computer or workstation) is the requesting machine and
the server is the supplying machine. Servers can be microcomputers, minicomputers or mainframes. The client
provides the user interface and may perform application processing. A database server maintains the databases and
processes requests from the client to extract data from or update the database. An application server provides
additional business processing for the clients.

Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server. This is the host data management component for IBM Tivoli Monitoring.

Candle Management Workstation. This is the client component of a CandleNet Command Center environment. It is
replaced by the Tivoli Enterprise Portal user interface in the IBM Tivoli Monitoring environment.

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Configure History permission. Your user ID must have Configure History permission to open the History
Collection Configuration window for setting up history files and data roll off. If you do not have this permission,
you will not see the menu item or tool for historical configuration.

CORBA. Common Object Request Broker Architecture is an architecture and specification that facilitates
communication among program components, or objects, in a network. The Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server is a
CORBA implementation.

critical state. The indication that a situation associated with the Navigator item is in an unacceptable state and that
you must take corrective action. The critical state is represented by the color red.

Custom Navigator Views permission. Your user ID has a Modify checkbox for the Custom Navigator Views
feature. This permission must be enabled or you will not be able to open the Navigator view editor to view and
maintain Navigator views.

D
detailed attribute name. The name used in formulas, expert advice, take action commands, and headers and footers
when referencing a monitoring agent attribute. In the Properties and Situation editors, you click Show Formula, then
check Show detailed formula to see the detailed attribute name.

display item. An attribute designated to further qualify a situation. With a display item set for a multiple-row
attribute group, the situation continues to look at the other rows in the sampling and opens more events if other
rows qualify. The value displays in the event workspace and in the message log and situation event console views.
You can select a display item when building a situation with a multiple row attribute group.

distribution. The managed systems on which the situation is running.

DLL. Dynamic Link Library is a composite of one or more executable objects, bound together by a linking
procedure, and loaded at run time.

DMZ. Demilitarized Zone is the area of a Web application that enables the company to host Internet services
without allowing unauthorized access.

DSN. Data Source Name. The name is stored in the database server and enables you to retrieve information from
the database through ODBC. The DSN includes such information as the database name, database driver, user ID and
password.

E
EIB. Enterprise Information Base is a database used by the monitoring server to store situations, policies, user
definitions and managed object definitions.

endcode. You assign endcodes in a policy as you connect one activity to another. The encode indicates the result of
this activity that will trigger the next activity.

event. An action or some occurrence, such as running out of memory or completing a transaction, that can be
detected by a situation. The event causes the situation to become true and an alert to be issued.

event indicator. The colored icon that displays over a Navigator item when an event opens for a situation.

event item. A Navigator item that shows when you open the event workspace for a true situation (by selecting it
from the event flyover listing or from the situation event console popup menu).

event sound. The sound file that plays when an event opens. Sound is set in the Situation editor when the situation
is associated with a Navigator item and can be different for different Navigator items.

F
Filter Criteria. Limits the amount of information returned to the data view in response to a query. You can apply a
pre-filter to the query to collect only certain data, or apply a post-filter to the view properties to show only certain
data from what was collected.

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G
georeferenced map. A special type of graphic that has built-in knowledge of latitude and longitude and can be
zoomed into and out of quickly. The portal uses proprietary .IVL files generated with the map-rendering component.
These files cannot be opened or saved in a graphic editor.

H
historical data management. The procedures applied to short-term binary history files that perform roll off to either
a data warehouse or to delimited text files (krarloff utility on UNIX or Windows; KBDXTRA on z/OS Persistent Data
Store), and delete entries in the short-term history files over 24 hours old to make room for new entries.

hot standby. A redundant Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server that, if the primary or hub monitoring server should
fail, assumes the responsibilities of the failed monitoring server.

hub. 1) A central host system that collects the status of situations running on your systems. 2) The monitoring
server that has been elected to act as the focal point to which all portal servers and remote monitoring servers in this
monitored network connect. A remote monitoring server passes its collected data to the hub to be made available to
clients, creating an enterprise-wide view.

Tivoli Monitoring Services. An integrated, layered architecture consisting of data access, communication, and
presentation components that enable cross-platform operation and integration of data for systems management
applications.

integral Web server. A proprietary web server developed by IBM Tivoli Monitoring that is installed and configured
automatically with the Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server. You enter the URL of the integral Web server to start Tivoli
Enterprise Portal browser mode.

Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server. The server you log on to and connect to from the Tivoli Enterprise Portal client. The
portal server connects to the hub monitoring server. It enables retrieval, manipulation and analysis of data from
monitoring agents.

I
interval. The number of seconds that have elapsed between one sample and the next. A sample is the data that the
product collects for the server.

ior. (1) Interoperable Object Reference connects clients to the portal server. The IOR identifies a remote object,
including such information as name, capabilities and how to contact. In the URL you may have an ior reference. This
is because it goes through the web server and the portal server uses it to tell the client which ior to fetch. Once it
does that, it extracts the host and port and tells the client where to route the request. (2)

M
managed object. An icon created in the Candle Management Workstation from a managed object template that
represents resources you monitor with situations. Managed objects are converted to items in the Navigator Logical
view.

managed system. A particular operating system, subsystem, or application in your enterprise where a Tivoli
Enterprise Monitoring Agent is installed and running.

managed system list. A named list of managed systems of the same type. You can see and select a managed system
list when you distribute a situation or policy, edit a query specification, or assign managed systems to Navigator
items in custom Navigator views. Example: A list of Linux managed systems for a geographic region named
LINUX_LONDON.

middleware. Software that enables the exchange of information between components in a distributed computing
environment. IBM WebSphere MQ is an example of middleware.

monitor interval. A specified time, scalable to seconds, minutes, hours, or days, for how often the monitoring server
checks to see if a situation has become true. The minimum monitor interval is 30 seconds; the default is 15 minutes.

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MVS. Multiple Virtual Storage, the operating system used on IBM mainframes since 1974. Newer versions are
OS/390 and z/OS.

N
NAT. Network Address Translation is a scheme used by LANs to establish an internal and external set of IP
addresses. Internal IP addresses are kept private and must be translated to and from the external address(es) for
outbound and inbound communications. NAT is often used in firewall configurations.

Navigator. The left pane of the Tivoli Enterprise Portal window. The Navigator Physical view shows your network
enterprise as a physical hierarchy of systems grouped by platform. You can also create other views to create logical
hierarchies grouped as you specify, such as by department or function.

O
ODBC. Open DataBase Connectivity, a standard for accessing different database systems. The Query editor enables
you to write custom SQL queries for creating views that retrieve data from ODBC-compliant databases.

IBM Tivoli Monitoring. A client-server implementation comprising a Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server, an
application server known as theTivoli Enterprise Portal Server, the Tivoli Enterprise Portal client, and Tivoli
Enterprise Monitoring Agents that collect and distribute data to a monitoring server.

Tivoli Enterprise Web Services. An open standards-based interface to the monitoring server using SOAP requests.
Any monitoring agent can be dynamically queried, so performance and availability data can be processed by other
applications.

P
platform. The operating system the managed system is using, such as OS/390 and Linux. The Navigator physical
mapping places the platform level under the enterprise level.

policy. A set of automated system processes that can perform actions, schedule work for users, or automate manual
tasks. It comprises a series of automated steps, called activities, whose order of execution you control.

product code. The three-letter code used by IBM Tivoli Monitoring to identify the product component. For example,
the product code for IBM Tivoli Monitoring for WebSphere Application Server is KWE.

Properties editor. A multi-tabbed window for specifying the properties of the individual views that make up a
workspace, as well as the general workspace properties.

pure event. A pure event is one that occurs automatically, such as when a paper out condition occurs on the printer
or when a new log entry is written. Situations written to notify you of pure events remain true until they are
manually closed or automatically closed by an UNTIL clause.

S
sample. The data that the monitoring agent collects for the server instance. The interval is the time between data
samplings.

sampled event. Sampled events happen when a situation becomes true. Situations sample data at regular intervals.
When the situation is true, it opens an event, which gets closed automatically when the situation goes back to false
(or you can close it manually).

situation. A set of conditions that, when met, creates an event. A condition consists of an attribute, an operator such
as greater than or equal to, and a value. It can be read as, “If - system condition - compared to - value - is true”. An
example of a situation is: IF - CPU usage - > - 90% - TRUE. The expression “CPU usage > 90%” is the situation
condition.

small icon. Small icons are used in conjunction with the graphic view stylesheets. The icon image should be no
taller than 16 x 16 pixels with a 2-pixel top and bottom margin, for a total of 20 x 20 pixels. The 2-pixel margins
ensure that the icon does not touch the one above or below it.

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SNMP. Simple Network Management Protocol. A software protocol to facilitate communications between different
types of networks. IBM Tivoli Monitoring uses SNMP messaging to discover the devices on your network and their
availability.

SOAP. Single Object Access Protocol is an XML-based protocol that enables applications to converse with each other
and exchange data over the Internet, regardless of platform.

sound. WAV file that plays whenever the situation becomes true for this Navigator item. Sound is assigned to the
Navigator item for a situation in the same way a state is assigned.

SQL. Structured Query Language is a programming language for getting information from and updating a database.
The Query editor enables you to write SQL queries to ODBC data sources for retrieval and display in table and chart
views.

state. The severity of the situation event: critical, warning, or informational. Indicated by a colored event indicator,
state is set in the Situation editor and can be different for different Navigator items.

status. The true or false condition of a situation.

subnetwork. A configuration whereby a single IP network address is split up so it can be used on several
interconnected local networks. Subnetworking is a local configuration; outside it appears as a single IP network.

symbol. Represents a variable that can be added to header or footer text for data views, expert advice text, or query
specification. The detailed attribute name is enclosed in dollar signs, such as $ORGINNODE$, and resolves to the
attribute’s value. For Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server queries, == $NODE$ specifies from which managed systems
to retrieve data. For queries to be used in link target workspaces, you can create symbols for attributes using the
$symbolname$ format.

T
TCP/IP. Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. An open, portable communications protocol.

Telnet. A terminal emulation program used on TCP/IP networks. You can start a Telnet session with another system
and enter commands that execute on the other system. A valid user ID and password are required.

TSO. Time Sharing Option.

UDB. IBM’s DB2 Universal DataBase is a relational database management system. A UDB database is installed on
the same system as the Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server and stores queries, customized workspaces, user IDs, and
custom Navigator views.

V
Value of expression. A function in a situation condition, query specification, or data view filter or threshold that
uses the raw value of an attribute. A value can be a number, text string, attribute, or modified attribute. Use this
function with any operator.

view. A windowpane, or frame, in a workspace. It may contain data from an agent in a chart or table, or it may
contain a terminal session or browser, for example. A view can be split into two separate, autonomous views.

W
WAV. Waveform audio format for storing sound in files, developed jointly by Microsoft and IBM.

wildcard. An * (asterisk) used to represent any characters that may follow or precede those entered, such as Sys* to
find System and SysTray. Used in formulas with the VALUE function or MISSING function (in the Missing Task List).
Used also with the SCAN function, but at the beginning of the text as in *Z to find markZ and typeZ.

workspace. The viewing area of the Tivoli Enterprise Portal window, excluding the Navigator. Each workspace
comprises one or more views. Every Navigator item has its own default workspace and may have multiple
workspaces.

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workspace administration mode. A global parameter set in the Administer Users editor, but is available only for
user IDs with administrator authority. While enabled for a user ID, customization of workspaces, links, and terminal
session scripts automatically become available to all users connected to the same Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server.

Z
z/OS . IBM’s operating system for mainframe computers that has the ability to manage large amounts of memory,
direct access storage, and data.

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Appendix D. Accessibility
Accessibility features help users with physical disabilities, such as restricted
mobility or limited vision, to use software products successfully. The major
accessibility features in this product enable users to do the following:
v Use assistive technologies, such as screen-reader software and digital speech
synthesizer, to hear what is displayed on the screen. Consult the product
documentation of the assistive technology for details on using those technologies
with this product.
v Operate specific or equivalent features using only the keyboard.
v Magnify what is displayed on the screen.

In addition, the product documentation was modified to include the following

features to aid accessibility:
v All documentation is available in both HTML and convertible PDF formats to
give the maximum opportunity for users to apply screen-reader software.
v All images in the documentation are provided with alternative text so that users
with vision impairments can understand the contents of the images.

Navigating the interface using the keyboard

Standard shortcut and accelerator keys are used by the product and are
documented by the operating system. Refer to the documentation provided by
your operating system for more information.

Magnifying what is displayed on the screen

You can enlarge information on the product windows using facilities provided by
the operating systems on which the product is run. For example, in a Microsoft
Windows environment, you can lower the resolution of the screen to enlarge the
font sizes of the text on the screen. Refer to the documentation provided by your
operating system for more information.

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Appendix E. Support information

If you have a problem with your IBM software, you want to resolve it quickly. This
section describes the following options for obtaining support for IBM software
products:
v “Searching knowledge bases”
v “Obtaining fixes”
v “Receiving weekly support updates” on page 238
v “Contacting IBM Software Support” on page 238

Searching knowledge bases

You can search the available knowledge bases to determine whether your problem
was already encountered and is already documented.

Searching the information center

IBM provides extensive documentation that can be installed on your local
computer or on an intranet server. You can use the search function of this
information center to query conceptual information, instructions for completing
tasks, and reference information.

Searching the Internet

If you cannot find an answer to your question in the information center, search the
Internet for the latest, most complete information that might help you resolve your
problem.

To search multiple Internet resources for your product, use the Web search topic in
your information center. In the navigation frame, click Troubleshooting and
support  Searching knowledge bases and select Web search. From this topic, you
can search a variety of resources, including the following:
v IBM technotes
v IBM downloads
v IBM Redbooks
v IBM developerWorks
v Forums and newsgroups
v Google

Obtaining fixes
A product fix might be available to resolve your problem. To determine what fixes
are available for your IBM software product, follow these steps:
1. Go to the IBM Software Support Web site at
http://www.ibm.com/software/support.
2. Click Downloads and drivers in the Support topics section.
3. Select the Software category.
4. Select a product in the Sub-category list.
5. In the Find downloads and drivers by product section, select one software
category from the Category list.

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6. Select one product from the Sub-category list.

7. Type more search terms in the Search within results if you want to refine your
search.
8. Click Search.
9. From the list of downloads returned by your search, click the name of a fix to
read the description of the fix and to optionally download the fix.

For more information about the types of fixes that are available, see the IBM
Software Support Handbook at
http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/guides/handbook.html.

Receiving weekly support updates

To receive weekly e-mail notifications about fixes and other software support news,
follow these steps:
1. Go to the IBM Software Support Web site at
http://www.ibm.com/software/support.
2. Click My support in the upper right corner of the page.
3. If you have already registered for My support, sign in and skip to the next
step. If you have not registered, click register now. Complete the registration
form using your e-mail address as your IBM ID and click Submit.
4. Click Edit profile.
5. In the Products list, select Software. A second list is displayed.
6. In the second list, select a product segment, for example, Application servers.
A third list is displayed.
7. In the third list, select a product sub-segment, for example, Distributed
Application & Web Servers. A list of applicable products is displayed.
8. Select the products for which you want to receive updates, for example, IBM
HTTP Server and WebSphere Application Server.
9. Click Add products.
10. After selecting all products that are of interest to you, click Subscribe to email
on the Edit profile tab.
11. Select Please send these documents by weekly email.
12. Update your e-mail address as needed.
13. In the Documents list, select Software.
14. Select the types of documents that you want to receive information about.
15. Click Update.

If you experience problems with the My support feature, you can obtain help in
one of the following ways:
Online
Send an e-mail message to [email protected], describing your problem.
By phone
Call 1-800-IBM-4You (1-800-426-4968).

Contacting IBM Software Support

IBM Software Support provides assistance with product defects.

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Before contacting IBM Software Support, your company must have an active IBM
software maintenance contract, and you must be authorized to submit problems to
IBM. The type of software maintenance contract that you need depends on the
type of product you have:
v For IBM distributed software products (including, but not limited to, Tivoli,
Lotus, and Rational products, as well as DB2 and WebSphere products that run
on Windows, or UNIX operating systems), enroll in Passport Advantage in one
of the following ways:
Online
Go to the Passport Advantage Web site at
http://www.lotus.com/services/passport.nsf/
WebDocs/Passport_Advantage_Home and click How to Enroll.
By phone
For the phone number to call in your country, go to the IBM Software
Support Web site at
http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/guides/contacts.html and click the
name of your geographic region.
v For customers with Subscription and Support (S & S) contracts, go to the
Software Service Request Web site at
https://techsupport.services.ibm.com/ssr/login.
v For customers with IBMLink, CATIA, Linux, OS/390, iSeries, pSeries, zSeries,
and other support agreements, go to the IBM Support Line Web site at
http://www.ibm.com/services/us/index.wss/so/its/a1000030/dt006.
v For IBM eServer software products (including, but not limited to, DB2 and
WebSphere products that run in zSeries, pSeries, and iSeries environments), you
can purchase a software maintenance agreement by working directly with an
IBM sales representative or an IBM Business Partner. For more information
about support for eServer software products, go to the IBM Technical Support
Advantage Web site at http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/techsupport.html.

If you are not sure what type of software maintenance contract you need, call
1-800-IBMSERV (1-800-426-7378) in the United States. From other countries, go to
the contacts page of the IBM Software Support Handbook on the Web at
http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/guides/contacts.html and click the name of
your geographic region for phone numbers of people who provide support for
your location.

To contact IBM Software support, follow these steps:

1. “Determining the business impact”
2. “Describing problems and gathering information” on page 240
3. “Submitting problems” on page 240

Determining the business impact

When you report a problem to IBM, you are asked to supply a severity level.
Therefore, you need to understand and assess the business impact of the problem
that you are reporting. Use the following criteria:
Severity 1
The problem has a critical business impact. You are unable to use the
program, resulting in a critical impact on operations. This condition
requires an immediate solution.

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Severity 2
The problem has a significant business impact. The program is usable, but
it is severely limited.
Severity 3
The problem has some business impact. The program is usable, but less
significant features (not critical to operations) are unavailable.
Severity 4
The problem has minimal business impact. The problem causes little impact
on operations, or a reasonable circumvention to the problem was
implemented.

Describing problems and gathering information

When describing a problem to IBM, be as specific as possible. Include all relevant
background information so that IBM Software Support specialists can help you
solve the problem efficiently. To save time, know the answers to these questions:
v What software versions were you running when the problem occurred?
v Do you have logs, traces, and messages that are related to the problem
symptoms? IBM Software Support is likely to ask for this information.
v Can you re-create the problem? If so, what steps were performed to re-create the
problem?
v Did you make any changes to the system? For example, did you make changes
to the hardware, operating system, networking software, and so on.
v Are you currently using a workaround for the problem? If so, be prepared to
explain the workaround when you report the problem.

Submitting problems
You can submit your problem to IBM Software Support in one of two ways:
Online
Click Submit and track problems on the IBM Software Support site
athttp://www.ibm.com/software/support/probsub.html. Type your
information into the appropriate problem submission form.
By phone
For the phone number to call in your country, go to the contacts page of
the IBM Software Support Handbook at
http://techsupport.services.ibm.com/guides/contacts.html and click the
name of your geographic region.

If the problem you submit is for a software defect or for missing or inaccurate
documentation, IBM Software Support creates an Authorized Program Analysis
Report (APAR). The APAR describes the problem in detail. Whenever possible,
IBM Software Support provides a workaround that you can implement until the
APAR is resolved and a fix is delivered. IBM publishes resolved APARs on the
Software Support Web site daily, so that other users who experience the same
problem can benefit from the same resolution.

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Appendix F. Notices
This information was developed for products and services offered in the U.S.A.
IBM can not offer the products, services, or features discussed in this document in
other countries. Consult your local IBM representative for information on the
products and services currently available in your area. Any reference to an IBM
product, program, or service is not intended to state or imply that only that IBM
product, program, or service can be used. Any functionally equivalent product,
program, or service that does not infringe any IBM intellectual property right can
be used instead. However, it is the user’s responsibility to evaluate and verify the
operation of any non-IBM product, program, or service.

IBM can have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter
described in this document. The furnishing of this document does not give you
any license to these patents. You can send license inquiries, in writing, to:

IBM Director of Licensing

IBM Corporation
North Castle Drive
Armonk, NY 10504-1785 U.S.A.

For license inquiries regarding double-byte (DBCS) information, contact the IBM
Intellectual Property Department in your country or send inquiries, in writing, to:

IBM World Trade Asia Corporation

Licensing
2-31 Roppongi 3-chome, Minato-ku
Tokyo 106, Japan

The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any other
country where such provisions are inconsistent with local law:

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION PROVIDES THIS

PUBLICATION ″AS IS″ WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Some states do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain

transactions, therefore, this statement might not apply to you.

This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors.

Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes is
incorporated in new editions of the publication. IBM can make improvements
and/or changes in the products and/or the programs described in this publication
at any time without notice.

Any references in this information to non-IBM Web sites are provided for
convenience only and do not in any manner serve as an endorsement of those Web
sites. The materials at those Web sites are not part of the materials for this IBM
product and use of those Web sites is at your own risk.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 2005 241

 IBM Confidential

IBM can use or distribute any of the information you supply in any way it believes
appropriate without incurring any obligation to you.

Licensees of this program who wish to have information about it for the purpose
of enabling: (i) the exchange of information between independently created
programs and other programs (including this one) and (ii) the mutual use of the
information which has been exchanged, should contact:

IBM Corporation
2Z4A/101
11400 Burnet Road
Austin, TX 78758 U.S.A.

Such information can be available, subject to appropriate terms and conditions,

including in some cases payment of a fee.

The licensed program described in this document and all licensed material
available for it are provided by IBM under terms of the IBM Customer Agreement,
IBM International Program License Agreement or any equivalent agreement
between us.

This information contains examples of data and reports used in daily business
operations. To illustrate them as completely as possible, the examples include the
names of individuals, companies, brands, and products. All of these names are
fictitious and any similarity to the names and addresses used by an actual business
enterprise is entirely coincidental.

COPYRIGHT LICENSE:

This information contains sample application programs in source language, which

illustrate programming techniques on various operating systems. You can copy,
modify, and distribute these sample programs in any form without payment to
IBM, for the purposes of developing, using, marketing or distributing application
programs conforming to the application programming interface for the operating
system for which the sample programs are written. These examples have not been
thoroughly tested under all conditions. IBM, therefore, cannot guarantee or imply
reliability, serviceability, or function of these programs. You can copy, modify, and
distribute these sample programs in any form without payment to IBM for the
purposes of developing, using, marketing, or distributing application programs
conforming to IBM’s application programming interfaces.

If you are viewing this information in softcopy form, the photographs and color
illustrations might not Web.

Trademarks
IBM, the IBM logo, DB2®, Tivoli, the Tivoli logo, and Tivoli Enterprise Console®
are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines
Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

BizTalk,, SharePoint, Microsoft and Windows® are registered trademarks of

Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

Java™ and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both.

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UNIX® is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and
other countries.

Other company, product, and service names can be trademarks or service marks of
others.

Appendix F. Notices 243

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Index
Special characters B
*ALL_CMS 140 background, graphic view 102
*HUB 140 bar chart 55
BETWEEN function 207
books
Numerics feedback on xi
online xi
3270 or 5250 175
ordering xi
see publications xii
Boolean AND and OR 214
A browser view 36
accessibility xiii, 235 business view
acknowledge a situation event 32 Navigator views
acknowledge an event 118, 138 business 85
activities, workflow 146
connect 158
emitter 158
Evaluate a situation now 156
C
Candle Management Workstation
Make a choice 161
features not available 179
saving results 162
logical view 85
Start or stop a policy 156
policy save results 145
Start or stop a situation 157
cell functions 207
Suspend execution 157
chart view
Take action or Write message 157
bar 55
Wait until a situation is True 156
circular gauge 59
administration mode
customize 51
add query constraints 70
define link from 75
administrator
export 75
tutorial notes 20
filter a 52
user authorities 16
linear gauge 61
advanced automation 143
lookup table 46
agent
pie 53
remove offline 25
plot 57
alert
select a query for 51
lesson on responding to 30
set a time span 64
lights 30
styling 53
alert manager 11
Check for Missing Items 209
AND Boolean logic 214
child Navigator item 87
application window 15, 23
circular gauge chart 59
multiple 29
close an event 138
associate situations with Navigator items 84, 118, 132
column
attribute
thresholding in table views 49
substitution 131
column functions 211
symbol in queries 72
command
attribute groups 11
take action 171, 172
attributes 11
commands
characteristics 205
special characters xiv
description 11
syntax xiv
display item 127
Compare date/time 210
groups 11
Compare to time +/- delta 211
Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server and common 12
configure data collection 65
automated systems management
configuring historical data
advanced automation 143
overview 63
automation
consecutive true samples 126
create policy 144
console
description 143
universal message 165
reflex 143
Universal Message 173
autostart
console, universal message
policy 145
overview 165
Average of group 213
AVG function 213

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conventions enterprise
typeface xiv status workspace 23
correlate policy workflow 145 workspace description 28
COUNT function 213 enumerated attributes 206
Count of group members 213 event
create acknowledgement 118
another situation 125 acknowledgment 138
chart view 51 close 138
managed system list 140 console view 95
message log view 92 graphic view 99
Navigator views 86 icons in flyover list 137
policy 144 indicator lights 117
situation 121 management 137
view 37 message log view 92
workspace 37, 40 turn off sound 137
creating Take Action entries 169 views 35, 91
customer support workspace 118
See Software Support workspace, delete item for 139
customize workspace, open 137
chart view 51 event-based monitoring
query 67 overview 115
situation 119 expert advice 128
table view 46 export query results 75
terminal view 175
workspace lesson 36
customizing your views
Terminal view 175
F
filter
chart view 52
functions 207
D quick 94
data views 35 situation event console view 97
database, query an ODBC 70 situations tree 120
DATE function 210 table view 48
delete first / last 70
event acknowledgement 138 fixes, obtaining 237
event Navigator item 139 flyover list of true situations 31
link definition 80 For CandleNet Portal users 1
Navigator items 83 formula functions 205, 214
Navigator view 88 See also if a time is within a range
policy 150 See also if value is within a range
query 71 attributes in 205
situation 134 Average of group 213
workspace 43 Boolean AND and OR 214
designing customized responses 165 cell 207
disassociate a situation 133 Check for Missing Items 209
display item 127 Compare date/time 210
distribute Compare to time +/- delta 211
policy 145, 148 Count of group members 213
situation 127 group 211
Maximum in group 212
Minimum in group 212
E Return a subset of the string 209, 210
Scan for string within a string 209, 210
editor
Value of expression 207, 209
HTML in expert advice 128
full screen view 29
link expression 76
functions
Navigator 84
formula 205
situation 115
terminal emulator scripting 188
situation - action 130
situation - condition 126
situation - distribution 127
situation - until 131 G
workflow 155 gauge chart
education circular 59
see Tivoli technical training xiii linear 61
emitter activities 158 graphic view
background image 102

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graphic view (continued) linear gauge chart 61

change default graphic 105 link
change default style sheet 105 define table or chart 75
create a 99 define workspace 43
create style sheet 103 edit or delete definition 80
custom icons 103 expression editor 76
link from 105 from graphic view 105
overview 92 testing 78
properties 101 to a workspace 26, 44
snapshot tool 100 linking workspaces
toolbar 100 adding or editing a link anchor 79
group editing a link definition 80
columns, query to 69 log files and historical data collection 66
group functions 211 Logical view 10

H M
hexadecimal number entry 206 manage scripts 179
hide the Navigator 29 managed system
historical logs assigned to Navigator items 85
universal message console 165 description 5
Historical logs monitoring agent description 10
Universal Message console 173 Navigator hierarchy 25
historical reporting 63 remove offline 25
history status view 11
configure 65 managed system list
disable 65 create 140
start or stop data collection 66 monitoring server 140
time span to display 64 overview 140
HTML editor in expert advice 128 predefined 140
manuals
feedback on xi
I online xi
ordering xi
IBM Tivoli Monitoring
see publications xii
alert manager 11, 158
MAX function 212
applications and your user ID 20
Maximum in group 212
data flow diagram 6
message log view
description 5
apply quick settings 94
icons
columns 93
graphic view custom 103
overview 92
images
properties 94
change default background 105
MIN function 212
graphic view icons 103
minimize the Navigator 29
information centers, searching for problem resolution 237
Minimum in group 212
Internet
MISSING function 209
searching for problem resolution 237
monitoring
lesson, administrator notes 20
monitoring agent 10
K monitoring server
knowledge bases, searching for problem resolution 237 support in policies 163
mouseover 30
multiple windows 29
L multiple workspaces 26
multiple-row attribute groups 206
launch application
overview 165
legal notices 241
lesson N
building a Navigator view 81 navigating
creating a situation 118 back and forward 27
customizing a workspace 36 workspaces 24
navigating through workspaces 24 Navigator
Navigating Through Workspaces 24 associate situations with items 84, 132
responding to alerts 30 close situation event item 33
using views 29 event state and sound 118
using workspaces 27 hierarchy 25

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Navigator (continued) policy (continued)

levels 12 copy 150
lights 30, 117 correlate 145, 148
Logical view 10 create 144
minimize and restore 29 cross-monitoring server support 163
open another 83 delete 150
opening workspaces 24 details 152
overview 23 distribute 145
Physical view 10 edit 148
physical view hierarchy 12 event persistence situation 160
remove event item 139 event persistent situations 160
tree 24 limit restarts 146
Navigator view logic overview 144
managed system list 140 maintenance 148
minimize and restore 29 managed system list 140
Navigator views notes 160
and your user ID 20, 85 overview 143
assign managed systems to items 85 return codes 160
building 85 save activity results 162
create child item 87 start 147
create child items 82 start or stop 151
create new 81 stop 151
creating new 86 TIMEOUT condition 161
delete items 83 troubleshooting 148
delete view or item 88 uncorrelated 163
editing 87 user choice activities 161
editor 84 validate 147
lesson on building 81 work groups 161
lesson, administrator notes 21 workflow editor 155
overview of custom 81 Workflows window 152
renaming items 83 predefined
selectiing 83 managed system lists 140
share items 82 situations 115
new window 29 problem determination
notepad view 36 describing problems 240
numeric attributes 206 determining business impact 239
cell functions for 207 submitting problems 240
group function for 213 properties
hexadecimal notation 206 chart bar style and color 55
chart circular gauge style and color 59
chart filters 52
O chart linear gauge style and color 61
chart pie style and color 53
ODBC
chart plot style and color 57
create a query 70
chart query 51
offline
chart style 53
remove agent 25
table filters 48
online publications
table query 47
accessing xii
table style 50
optimizing performance 141
table thresholds 49
OR Boolean logic 214
terminal view 176
ordering publications xi, xiii
workspace 42
Properties editor
Configuration tab 176
P description 39
PARMA items in queries 70 format a table 38
persistence 126, 160 tabular editor description 205
Physical view 10 publications
pie chart 53 accessing online xii
plot chart 57 feedback on xi
policy online xi
activities 156 ordering xi, xiii
add and connect activites 146
automatic restart 146
autostart 145
business application group 162
Q
queries
connect activities 158
creating a query of ODBC database attributes 70

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query situation (continued)

advanced options for custom 69 expert advice 128
assign to a chart 51 flyover list 31
assign to a table 47 graphic view 99
assignment 38 lesson 118
create monitoring server 67 lesson, administrator notes 21
create ODBC 70 managed system list 140
delete a 71 message log view 92
export results 75 open the editor 120
first / last option 70 optimizing performance 141
group by option 69 overview 115
managed system list 140 persistence 126, 160
overview 67 predefined 115
PARMA items 70 reflex automation 143
sort by option 69 responding to alerts 30
symbols 72 sampling interval
Query editor interval, sampling 127
cell functions 207 situation event console view 95
column functions 211 state and sound 118, 121, 127
tabular editor description 205 stop, start, or delete 134
quick settings 94 syntax 116
tree, filter 120
Situation editor
R Action tab 130
Condition tab 126
reflex automation 117, 130, 143
Distribution tab 127
refresh
Expert Advice tab 128
workspace 28
group functions 211
remove offline agent 25
tabular editor description 205
rename
Until tab 131
Navigator items 83
situation event
report 46
acknowledgement 32
historical 63
close Navigator item 33
table view 45
flyover list 31
responding to alerts
lights 30
event management 137
management lesson 30
lesson in 30
workspace, open 31
restore original workspace 43
situation event console view 95
restore the Navigator 29
filters and thresholds 97
Return a subset of the string 209, 210
overview 92
return codes for tacmd CLI commands 228
properties 98
roll-up of situation events 30
tool and status icons 96
row
snapshot tool 100
limit in message log 94
SOAP 161
Software Support
contacting 238
S describing problems 240
sampling interval, situation 127 determining business impact 239
save receiving weekly updates 238
policy activity results 162 submitting problems 240
save a new workspace 37 sort
Scan for string within a string 209, 210 query 69
SCAN function 209, 210 sound
script, terminal view 178 turn off 137
setting up managed system lists 165 split a view 38
single-row attribute groups 206 start
situation policy 147, 151
associate 84, 132 status
cell functions 207 icons in event flyover list 137
create 121 icons in message log 93
create another (copy) 125 icons in message log view 93
customize 119 icons in situation event console view 96
display item 127 stop
editor 115 loading the workspace 29
event closure 138 policy 151
event management 137 situation 134
event workspace 31, 118 stop loading a workspace 29

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STR function 209, 210 Tivoli Enterprise Portal

style sheet client 5
change default 105 features 6
create a 103 window 15, 23
SUM function 214 Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server
Sum of group 214 description 5
symbols Tivoli Monitoring Services logs 66
add to query 72 Tivoli software information center xii
Tivoli technical training xiii
TN3270 or TN5250 session 175
T toolbar
workflow editor 155
table view
trademarks 242
column thresholds 49
training, Tivoli technical xiii
customize 46
troubleshooting
define link from 75
policy return codes 160
export 75
policy workflow 148
filter a 48
tuning
formatting a 38
situation performance 141
select a query for 38, 47
turn off sound 137
set a time span 64
tutorial
styling 50
building a Navigator view 81
what it can show 45
creating a situation 118
tacmd commands
customizing a workspace 36
return codes 228
navigating through workspaces 24
take action
Navigating Through Workspaces 24
in a situation 130
notes and description 20
overview 165
responding to alerts 30
reflex automation 117
using views 29
view 36, 171, 172
using workspaces 27
Take Action
typeface conventions xiv
rules for specifying arguments and commands 172
terminal emulator scripting language 188
terminal view
create a 175 U
customize 175 Universal Agent 9
Manage Scripts feature 179 universal message console 165
overview 175 overview 165
properties 176 Universal Message console 173
record a script 178 defining messages for 173
run a script 178 Until modifier 131
script functions 188 user ID
script syntax 179 access to functions 16
what the view shows 176 Navigator view assignments 85
text attributes 206
cell functions for 208
group functions for 211
text scripting language
V
validate policy workflow 147
in expert advice 129
VALUE function 207, 209
thresholds
Value of expression 207, 209
formula functions 207
view
quick 94
add a new 41
situation event console view 97
browser 36
thresholds on table columns 49
chart overview 46
time attributes
create a 37
cell functions for 210
export data 75
group functions for 211
full screen 29
TIME function 211
graphic 99
time span 64
manipulating a 29
TIMESPAN function 211
message log 92
timestamp attributes 206
mouseover 30
Tivoli Enterprise Console event viewer
notepad 36
overview 107
situation event console 95
Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Server
splitting a 38
attributes 12
table customize 46
custom query 67
table overview 45
managed system list 140
take action 36, 171, 172

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view (continued)
terminal 175
types 35
view full screen 29
views
Logical 10
Physical 10
Terminal 175

W
window
create a new 29
open multiple 29
work groups 161
Workflows window 152
activities 156
workspace
administration mode 19
author mode 19
close situation event 33
create (save) new 37
create and edit 40
customization options 39
customize lesson 36
define a link 43
delete 43
design guidelines 40
enterprise 27
enterprise status 23
event 137
lesson on navigating 24
lesson on using 27
link from graphic view 105
link to 26, 44
multiple 26
navigate to a 24
opening a 26
overview 23
properties 42
refresh 28
restore original 43
save a new 40
situation event 31
stop loading 29
view types 35

Index 251
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252 IBM Tivoli Monitoring: User’s Guide




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