Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved


Chapter 9 Planning your Monitoring Strategy : Define Problem Areas

Define Problem Areas
The first step in any monitoring strategy is to consider issues with resource contention or other problems that have occurred in the past. Make a list of questions you would like to answer about your network systems and applications, problems you would like to solve, and situations you would like to avoid. For example:
When the list is complete, assign a priority to each item. Decide which improvements provide the greatest benefit to your enterprise, then rank items in order of importance.
Define Information Requirements
For each item you choose to focus on, define the information that is required to answer the question, solve the problem, or avoid the situation. For example, to gain more control over processes that slow the system, you might track the number of processes are running on each server, or measure system response time.
Identify Corrective Actions
Identify actions that could fix or avoid the problems you defined. If the problem is slow servers, for example, a corrective action might be “Terminate redundant or low-priority processes.”
Map Information Requirements
The next step is to map information requirements to microagent methods. Evaluate TIBCO Hawk microagent methods and their results, both platform-independent and platform-specific. Consider methods that return data: IMPACT_INFO and IMPACT_ACTION_INFO. Often analogous methods for each operating system return similar information. If possible, match each information need to a microagent method result field.
A key requirement is that you specify one information source per item. You might also need to redefine questions or conditions to fit available options. For example, to solve the problem of the system running slowly, choose the most appropriate metric: CPU utilization, file reads per minute, or the number of simultaneously running processes. Usually one source provides the best answer. If multiple operating systems exist on your network, a separate mapping might be required for each operating system.
If a piece of information is not provided by default TIBCO Hawk microagents, look for alternate ways of providing the information to a TIBCO Hawk agent— through an AMI gateway to an application, or by retrieving data from custom scripts. If a third-party application is business-critical, consider instrumenting it using the TIBCO Hawk Application Management Interface (AMI).
Map Action Requirements
After information requirements are fulfilled by microagent methods, you map action requirements to microagent methods. Consider TIBCO Hawk microagent methods of type IMPACT_ACTION or IMPACT_ACTION_INFO to learn about available actions. If possible, map each required action to a microagent method.
If an action cannot be performed by TIBCO Hawk action methods, look for alternate ways to perform it. You can call custom executables or reach directly into an application using AMI (or by writing an AMI gateway to an application).
At this point, you can also define practical meanings for low, medium and high alert levels. For example, high-level alerts might be reserved for actions that require intervention by the system administrator, or for maintenance tasks that take more than 30 minutes to complete.
Refine Corrective Actions
Define timing and circumstances for corrective actions. Define when a question needs to be answered or a problem solved. How often and under what circumstances does a solution need to occur? What are the potential causes of the problem? How quickly does the information change? Does it build over hours, or happen all at once? How often does it happen? What are the symptoms? Is there a fault-tolerant backup for a critical application?
Define when a problem is considered resolved. Define a resolution for each problem: what signals that balance is restored? What is adequate? What is normal?

Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved
Copyright © TIBCO Software Inc. All Rights Reserved