Job Management Partner 1/Performance Management Planning and Configuration Guide

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4.4 Functions for detecting faults in the operation monitoring system itself

Performance Management provides a function that monitors the operating status of the monitoring agent and the host on which the monitoring agent is running. This is called the health check function. By using this function, you can confirm whether the monitoring agent is monitoring its targets correctly and whether the host of the monitoring agent is operating. If PFM - RM is used, you can confirm whether a monitored host is running. By defining alarms for the various operating statuses of the Agents and hosts, the system can issue alarm events and trigger an action such as sending an email when the health check function detects that PFM - Agent or PFM - RM is malfunctioning or detects that a host is down.

Performance Management also provides a function you can use to view the detailed operating status of Performance Management services running in the operation monitoring system. This is called the status management function.

The health check function uses the status management function to monitor the operating status of monitoring agents. For this reason, the version of the monitoring agent monitored by the health check function must support the status management function, and the status management function must be active. There are no prerequisites associated with monitoring the operating status of a host. The following figure shows an overview of checking operating statuses by using the health check function.

Figure 4-24 Overview of checking the operating status by using the health check function (in PFM - Agent)

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Figure 4-25 Overview of checking the operating status by using the health check function (in PFM - RM)

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The health check function uses a monitoring approach consisting of the following two tiers:

Reference note: Health check for PFM - RM
For PFM - RM, you can monitor the following three operating statuses:
  • Operating status of the host running PFM - RM
  • Operating status of the PFM-RM services
  • Operating status of the monitored host of PFM-RM
The operating status of a monitored host for PFM - RM is monitored as the operating status of the corresponding remote agent. You cannot monitor the operating status of a group agent.
You can monitor the operating status of the monitored host for PFM - RM, regardless of whether you set the health check function to the host monitoring level or the service monitoring level. However, if this function is set to the service monitoring level, the operating status of the monitored host for PFM - RM varies, depending on the status of the Remote Monitor Store or Action Handler service. If you want to monitor the operating status of the monitored host for PFM - RM, you must enable the status management function of PFM - RM, even when setting the health check function to the host monitoring level.
For details on monitoring the operating status of the host monitored by PFM -RM, see the chapter that describes detecting problems in Performance Management in the Job Management Partner 1/Performance Management User's Guide.

The health check function uses a dedicated agent called a health check agent to monitor the operating status of monitoring agents and the operating status of hosts on which monitoring agents are running. When the health check function is enabled, the health check agent starts when PFM - Manager starts. The health check agent checks the operating status of monitoring agent services and their hosts at regular intervals and displays the results in PFM - Web Console. By viewing the results, the system administrator can be made aware of changes in the operating status. For details on how to configure the health check function and how to check the operating statuses, see the chapter that describes detecting problems in Performance Management in the Job Management Partner 1/Performance Management User's Guide.

The monitoring results of the health check function are issued as events (health check events) and also collected in the form of performance data. This allows you to set alarms and assign actions to those alarms, thus associating changes in the agent operating status with an action such as issuing a JP1 event, executing a command, issuing an SNMP trap, or sending an email. By using JP1 events and SNMP traps, you can link with an integrated management product like JP1/IM or NNM.

Depending on how the health-check agent is configured, the results of operating status monitoring can be stored in the Store database. You can then use the reporting function of the health check agent to view current and historical operating status information. The manner in which the health check agent stores data in the Store database, such as the Store version and the data retention period, can be set and managed in the same way as for ordinary performance data. For details on how to manage the collected data, see the chapter that describes management of operation monitoring data in the Job Management Partner 1/Performance Management User's Guide. The following figure shows how the monitoring results data of the health check function is managed.

Figure 4-26 Data management of the monitoring results of the health check function

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Alternatively, you can monitor the status of the Performance Management services by using only the status management function. When the status management function is enabled, all services that run on PFM - Manager and PFM - Base register their status in a status file. The system administrator can then learn the status of each service by using the status management service (Status Server service) to check the contents of this file. To check the contents of the status file, you execute an operation command (the jpctool service list). The following figure gives an overview of using the status management function to check service statuses.

Figure 4-27 Overview of checking service statuses using the status management function

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For details on how to configure the status management function, see the chapter that describes detecting problems in Performance Management in the Job Management Partner 1/Performance Management User's Guide.

Reference note: Status management when the status management function is disabled:
If the status management function is disabled, PFM - Manager determines the service status based on whether attempts to communicate with PFM - Agent or PFM - RM yields a response. In addition, PFM - Manager centrally manages network information such as the IP addresses and port numbers for PFM - Agent or PFM - RM. Therefore, the service status cannot be checked if communication with PFM - Manager is not possible because an error has occurred, the service is starting, or for some other reason the status also cannot be checked when PFM - Agent or PFM - RM is running in standalone mode.
If the status management function is disabled, you might be unable to check the status of a service that is starting or stopping when you execute the jpctool service list command. If it is necessary to check the service status, enable the status management function. The following figure shows an example of checking the status of Performance Management with the status management function disabled.

Figure 4-28 Example when the status management function is disabled

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For details of the jpcctrl list command, see the chapter about commands in the manual Job Management Partner 1/Performance Management Reference.

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