2.9.1 Operational notes

(1) Notes on changing the time of the system in which SSO is running

• Setting the clock ahead

  No problem occurs but the following intervals become shorter:

  • Resource collection interval

  • Health check interval for process and service monitoring

  • Grace period for detecting event losses during process and service monitoring

• Setting the clock back

  Since SSO may cease to operate properly, take the following action:

  1. If resources are currently being collected, terminate all resource collection.

  2. Extract the required resource data and delete the entire collection database.

  3. Stop SSO.

  4. Set the system clock back.

  5. Start SSO.

  6. Start resource collection.

  If you set the system clock back without taking the above action, the following problems might occur:

  • You cannot properly browse collected data.

  • The resource collection interval becomes greater.

  • The health check interval for process and service monitoring becomes greater.

  • The grace period for detecting event losses during process and service monitoring becomes longer.

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(2) Notes on changing the time of the system in which APM is running

• Setting the clock ahead

  The interval of time for process monitoring immediately after the change might become shorter by the amount of time the clock is set ahead. This only occurs to the interval during which the time is changed.

• Setting the clock back

  The interval of time for process monitoring immediately after the change might become longer by the amount of time the clock is set back. This only occurs to the interval during which the time is changed.

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(3) Host names

The host names of monitoring managers and monitoring servers must be compliant with the relevant RFC.

The characters that can be used in host names are single-byte alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, and 0-9), hyphens (-), and periods (.) to delimit DNS label names. The maximum length of a host name that can be specified for a host is 255 bytes, including the DNS suffix.

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(4) IP addresses

• If the host name of a monitoring manager or monitoring server can be resolved to multiple IP addresses, make sure that the host name resolves to an IP address recognized by SSO first.

• Make sure that the IP addresses of hosts monitored by SSO can be converted into host names.

• When assigning a host name to a collecting server or a server targeted for collection, make sure that the host name can be resolved on any server to which the server (collecting server or server targeted for collection) is connected.

• For SSO on a remote host, even if you specify an agent by its IP address, define the agent in the hosts file on the server to which the agent is connected. If the agent is not defined, the ssocolmng and ssocollectd daemon processes will not start promptly, because the host name will need to be resolved from the IP address.

• When you create a report, you will need to specify a collecting server and the servers targeted for collection. Make sure that the IP addresses of those servers can be converted into host names.

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(5) Notes on using SSO to monitor the processes and services on servers in a cluster system or to collect the resources from servers in a cluster system

If you are using SSO to monitor the processes and services on servers in a cluster system or to collect resources from servers in a cluster system, perform monitoring and collection on a physical-host basis.

To monitor processes and services, specify IP addresses that are set in the event source definition file for APM on the monitoring-target server.

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(6) If a host to be monitored has multiple IP addresses

• A server targeted for collection or a process-monitoring server might have multiple IP addresses. Therefore, communication with the server by using the IP address set as in the collection or monitoring conditions might be impossible. Alternatively, if a host name was set for the server, communication by using the IP address that corresponds to the host name in the hosts file of SSO might be impossible. In such cases, change the IP address to one for which communication is possible.

• Set process monitoring conditions so that the IP address set in the event source definition file for APM is set as the IP address of the process-monitoring server.

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(7) Changing the host name or IP address of the local host on which SSO runs

If you change the host name or IP address of the local host on which SSO runs, perform the procedure described below.^#

For information on the procedure to be performed when you change a logical host name or logical IP address in a cluster system, see 7.5.1(5) About changing the logical IP address and 7.5.1(6) About renaming the logical host.

#:

You must also perform the following procedure if you change the case of a letter (from uppercase to lowercase, or vice versa) in the host name or if you add or change the domain name.

1. In the Process Configuration window, from List of monitoring servers, delete all items that refer to the local host. (Perform this step only when changing the IP address.)

2. In the Resource Configuration window, delete all collection conditions for the local host. (Perform this step only when changing the IP address.)

3. Stop all resource collection and process monitoring.

4. Close all windows related to resource collection and process monitoring.

5. Delete, from SSO, all databases related to resource collection.

   If a database contains necessary data, use the ssoextractlog command to extract the data, and then save the extracted data before deleting the database.

6. Stop the SSO daemon processes.

7. Change the host name or IP address of the system on which SSO runs.

8. If the target server (host) is defined in the following definition files, change the definitions in those files:

   Definition files for SSO:

   • ssoapmon action definition file (ssoapmon.def) (used only when changing the IP address)

   • ssocollectd action definition file (ssocollectd.def) (used only when changing the IP address)

   • ssocolmng action definition file (ssocolmng.def) (used only when changing the IP address)

   • Event destination definition file (ssodest.conf) (used only when changing the IP address)

   • Monitoring server definition file

   Definition files for APM:

   • Startup event destination definition file (apmdest.conf)

   • Proxy definition file (apmproxy.conf)

   If the target host is defined in the SSO event destination definition file (ssodest.conf) or if the target host is defined as the event destination of an SNMP agent (regardless of whether the host is the local host), change the definition.

   Note that the event destinations of an SNMP agent vary depending on the OS. If the OS is Linux, the addresses set for the trap-dest entries in the /etc/SnmpAgent.d/snmpd.conf file are used as the destinations. If the OS is Windows, the addresses in the Trap destinations box in the Traps tab of the SNMP Service Properties dialog box are used as the destinations.

9. Restart the SSO daemon processes.

10. Set the resource collection conditions and processing monitoring conditions again. (Perform this step only when changing the IP address.)

11. Restart the processes related to resource collection and process monitoring.

12. Re-create the report definition file.

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(8) Changing the host name or IP address of a server targeted for resource collection or process monitoring

If you change the host name or IP address of the server targeted for resource collection or process monitoring, perform the procedure described below.^#

#:

You must also perform the following procedure if you change the case of a letter (from uppercase to lowercase, or vice versa) in the host name or if you add or change the domain name.

Item to be changed	Procedure to be performed
Host name	Perform either the procedure that requires you to restart SSO or the procedure that does not require you to restart SSO.
IP address	Perform the procedure that does not require you to restart SSO.

If you do not want to monitor processes, ignore the steps for monitoring processes. If you do not want to collect resources, ignore the steps for collecting resources.

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(9) Creating a report on a monitoring server on which another instance of SSO is running

You cannot create a report if the following conditions are met:

(a) You attempt to create a report by specifying a monitoring server on which another instance of SSO is running.

(b) The local IP address recognized by the SSO instance running on the monitoring server in (a) cannot be accessed by other SSO instances.^#

#: The local IP address recognized by SSO is determined in the following order of priority:

1. IP address specified for the change-my-address key in the ssocolmng action definition file

2. IP address with the highest priority level in the OS-dependent priority order

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(10) Character encodings that can be used for definition files

The following character encodings can be used for definition files:

• EUC

• SJIS

• UTF-8

• ASCII

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(11) Notes on changing the language environment in which SSO is running

To change the language environment, perform the following procedure. If you change the language environment by using some other method, SSO might not work properly.

1. If any resource collection processes are running, stop them.

2. Extract the necessary resource collection data, and then delete all collection databases.

3. Stop SSO.

4. Change the system language environment.

5. Start SSO.

6. Restart the resource collection processes.

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(12) Notes on monitoring processes and services, and collecting resources

Before you collect resources, monitor processes, or monitor services for the server targeted for resource collection or process monitoring, you must set the same community name on both the SNMP agent and the monitoring manager. The type of community name to be set depends on the operation as follows:

• For collecting resources: Get community name

• For monitoring processes or services: Set community name

For details about setting the community name on the SNMP agent, see the manual JP1/Extensible SNMP Agent or the documentation for the SNMP agent product.

For details about setting the community name on the monitoring manager, see 6.3.6 SNMP definition file (ssosnmp.conf).

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(13) Version of the SNMP protocol

The version of the SNMP protocol used by all programs in the SSO series is V1, V2, or V3. However, SSO does not support SNMP agents that support only SNMP V2.

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(14) Notes on health checks for process monitoring

If the health check interval is specified for process monitoring, a health check is performed at the specified interval even if the monitoring mode is turned off for all applications.

To disable health checks, set the health check interval to 0.

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(15) Monitoring processes whose names include multi-byte characters

To monitor processes whose names include multi-byte characters, match the language environment variables on the hosts on which SSO and APM operate.

Note that monitoring servers in a Windows environment cannot monitor processes whose names include multi-byte characters.

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(16) Notes on collecting resources

To collect network group resources from a host whose OS is Linux, AIX, Tru64, or Solaris, the native agent must be running. In Linux, AIX, or Tru64, the native agent is the snmpd process. In Solaris, the native agent is the snmpdx process.

If the OS of a host from which resources are to be collected is Solaris 2.5.1, you cannot collect network group resources because a native agent does not exist.

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(17) Making a backup of APM

If you are obtaining a backup of the environment provided by the APM functions, make a backup of definition files.

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(18) Changing the Windows domain in which APM is running (Windows only)

When there is a change of settings related to the ESA computer's participation in a Windows domain, reset the logon setting of the SNMP System Observer - Agent for Process service account of APM if logon attempts by the service account fails.

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(19) Notes on report conditions

You cannot define, as a report condition, an instance whose name begins or ends with a single-byte space.

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(20) Notes on using Japanese encoding in a report definition file

Characters that cannot be encoded in EUC-JP or UTF-8 are converted to question marks (?) in the following cases: when the user uses the GUI to handle a report definition file encoded in EUC-JP or UTF-8, and when the user uses the GUI to create a report file encoded in EUC-JP or UTF-8.

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(21) Changing the settings to accommodate an increasing number of instances for resource collection

The number of instances might increase as a result of disks and NICs being added as resources to be monitored by SSO. In such a case, if resources are collected by specifying individual instances, you must also specify the new instances. If individual instances are not specified, you do not need to change the SSO settings.

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(22) Monitoring of servers that use DHCP

SSO cannot monitor servers whose IP addresses are dynamically assigned by DHCP.

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(23) Notes on stopping the monitoring of monitoring servers

To stop the monitoring of monitoring servers, delete the servers from the list of monitoring servers in the Process Configuration window.

For monitoring servers that have already been removed from the monitoring targets on the previously used monitoring manager, stop APM on those servers, and then delete the *.apm files under $APM_CONF. In addition, delete the host names and IP addresses of those servers from the startup event destination definition file (apmdest.conf).

For details on the startup event destination definition file, see 6.4.2 Startup event destination definition file (apmdest.conf).

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(24) If one monitoring server (agent host) has multiple IP addresses

If one monitoring server (agent host) has multiple IP addresses, specify an IP address that can be accessed from the monitoring manager as the IP address of the monitoring server.

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(25) Notes that apply when the status of a daemon process is RUNNING* or DEGENERATING*

After the ssocolmng or ssoapmon daemon process starts, it performs initial setup. While initial setup is in progress, the daemon process is in the RUNNING* or DEGENERATING* status. The operations that cannot be performed while the daemon process is in either status are listed below.

If the ssocolmng daemon process is in the RUNNING* or DEGENERATING* status, do not perform the following operations:

• Executing the ssostop, ssobackup, ssocolmng, ssocolset, ssocolshow, ssocolstart, ssocolstop, ssodbcheck, ssodbdel, ssodemandrpt, or ssoextractlog command

• Connecting from the Resource Browser window, Resource Configuration window, Resource Configuration Browser window, or Resource Data Reference window

• Creating a report from the Report Configuration window

If the ssoapmon daemon process is in the RUNNING* or DEGENERATING* status, do not perform the following operations:

• Executing the ssostop, ssobackup, ssoapcom, ssopsset, ssopsshow, ssopsstart, or ssopsstop command

• Connecting from the Process Monitor window, Process Configuration window, or Process Configuration Browser window

Before you perform any of these operations, make sure that the status of the relevant daemon process is RUNNING or DEGENERATING.

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(26) Notes on displaying a report file in IE

Be careful when displaying an HTML-format report file in an environment in which Windows XP Service Pack 2 (or later) or Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (or later) has been installed. In such cases, depending on the IE security settings, graphs and legends might not be displayed. To display graphs and legends correctly, change the IE security settings as follows:

1. From the IE menu bar, select Tools and then Internet Options.

   The Internet Options window appears.

2. Select the Security tab, and then click the Custom Level button.

   The Security Settings window appears.

3. Under the ActiveX Controls and Plug-ins tree node, change the Binary and script behaviors setting to Enable, and then click the OK button.

   The Security Settings window closes.

4. Click the OK button.

   The Internet Options window closes.

5. If an HTML-format report file is already open, reload the page.

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(27) Notes on displaying HTML-format report files

Some web browsers can display HTML-format report files and other web browsers cannot. For details, see 2.4.1(1) Report file formats.

Whether the text in graphs is displayed depends on the font settings of the web browser. For details, see 2.4.2(2) HTML-format report files.

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(28) Notes on the stacked bar graph displayed for each subresource

For a stacked bar graph for a subresource, to distinguish an instance for which no data was collected during the report term from an instance whose value is 0, enable the display of statistics information for graphs when you create a report.^#

If display of statistics information is enabled, in the displayed statistics information, a hyphen (-) is displayed for an instance for which no data was collected during the report term.

#: To enable the display of statistics information for graphs:

Perform either of the following operations:

• In the Graph Detail Setup window, select the The display of Statistics check box for the relevant report condition, and then save the report definition file.

• In the report definition file, specify the graph_statistics_info key for the relevant report condition, and then save the report definition file.

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(29) Notes on creating a report file

When you set output destinations in the Creating of Report File window, you can use only the following characters:

• single-byte alphanumeric characters

• periods (.)

• underscores (_)

• hyphens (-)

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(30) Notes on NNMi linkage

• SSO periodically checks the connection with NNMi to determine whether linkage with NNMi is possible. If NNMi is in the process of starting up, SSO might stop the monitoring of resources, processes, and services until the startup of NNMi finishes.

• SSO communicates with NNMi by using a web service (HTTP). For this reason, do not disable the NNMi port number used for HTTP communication.

• SSO 09-50 or later supports the use of HTTPS for connections with NNMi. For details about the settings for connecting with NNMi via HTTPS, see ssonnmsetup in 5. Commands.

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(31) Notes on using the Enter key in the Resource Browser window

While a resource in the list of resources is selected in the Resource Browser window, do not hold the Enter key down or press it repeatedly. If you do so, the window might freeze or the displayed content might become corrupted.

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(32) Notes on stopping an agent from which resources are to be collected or a server targeted for collection

Before you stop an agent from which resources are to be collected or a server targeted for collection, stop resource collection and periodic polling for that server or agent. If the resource collection target agent is ESA or JP1/Cm2/SMG, make sure that the processing of the snmpstart command has finished, and then restart resource collection and periodic polling.

If you stop an agent from which resources are to be collected or a server targeted for collection without first stopping resource collection and periodic polling, one of the following problems might occur:

• Resources cannot be collected.

• Resource values become incorrect.

Note that the Set Collection Time Zone window can be used to suppress resource collection around a time during which SSO is not running. You can also use this window to stop resource collection periodically.

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(33) Notes on setting process monitoring conditions

When you add monitoring-target processes from the Process Configuration window, do not enter line break codes (0x0A or 0x0D0A) in text fields.^#

#:

For example, if you copy data that was created by using spreadsheet software into a text field, line break codes are likely to be included.

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(34) Notes on the SNMP System Observer - Console service

The SNMP System Observer - Console service starts and stops at the same time as the ssoconsoled daemon process. For this reason, do not start or stop the SNMP System Observer - Console service itself.

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(35) Notes on monitoring processes and services by using event notifications via SNMP traps

If the number of SNMP traps received by NNMi is close to the upper limit, NNMi stops receiving SNMP traps from APM and, as a result, SSO cannot monitor processes and services correctly. For this reason, maintain the NNMi database before NNMi becomes unable to receive SNMP traps. Alternatively, monitor processes and services by using event notifications via TCP communication.

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(36) Character codes that cannot be used

SSO cannot handle characters in the JIS level-3 kanji set or the JIS level-4 kanji set. Do not use these characters in definition items, folder names, or file names.

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(37) Notes on Windows

• Execution of commands

  To run a command, you must run the command prompt as an administrator. To run the command prompt as an administrator, right-click the Command Prompt icon, and then, from the shortcut menu, select Run as administrator. Note that, if the UAC feature is disabled, you do not need to run the command prompt as an administrator.

• Execution of automated actions

  As a result of Session 0 Isolation, sessions for services and sessions for users are now separated from each other, and session 0s are now sessions for services only.

  Automated actions are executed from services, and the commands executed as part of automated actions run on the sessions for services. Therefore, if you specify a window program in an automated action, the automated action can handle the window program only if it is a window program that runs in the user session.

  To perform operations in a window program specified in an automated action, activate the Interactive Services Detection service, and then, in the Interactive Services Dialog Detection dialog box, click View the message.

  Note that, if this service is activated, it affects the entire system.

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(38) Notes on opening a window from the SSO console

If you use the applet method for opening windows, you cannot open two or more same window from the SSO console. If you attempt to open a window that is already open, the currently open window closes, and a new window opens.

Do not double-click a menu item in the menu frame or click the menu item multiple times in quick succession. If you do, an error might occur when a window opens.

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(39) Notes on the HNTRLib2 installation directory

If HNTRLib2 is installed, files are created not only in the specified installation directory, but also in the following directories (unless these directories have already been created):

In Windows:

%SystemDrive%:\Program Files\Hitachi\HNTRLib2
%SystemDrive%:\Program Files\Common Files\Hitachi
%SystemDrive%:\Program Files (x86)\Hitachi\HNTRLib2
%SystemDrive%:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Hitachi

In Linux:

/opt/hitachi/HNTRLib2
/opt/hitachi/common

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(40) Windows remote desktop services (Windows only)

SSO and APM does not work in conjunction with remote desktop services. Any operations utilizing remote desktop services are not supported.

However, SSO and APM is capable of operating if it simply coexists with remote desktop services.

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(41) If the monitoring manager has multiple IP addresses

To use the NNMi linkage function (active linkage) from an operation terminal that cannot communicate with the monitoring manager by using the IP address set for the change-my-address: key in the ssocolmng and ssoapmon action definition files, set the NNM action address definition file.

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(42) Protocol versions used for SNMP communication

The protocol versions that SSO uses for SNMP communication with the monitoring server are listed below. The version that is used depends on the function to be used. Make sure that SNMP communication can be performed by using the protocol version appropriate for each function.

• Process and service monitoring function

  SNMP Version1 (SNMPv1)

• Resource monitoring function

  SNMP version specified in the SNMP definition file

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(43) Executing remote commands that include multi-byte characters

To execute remote commands that include multi-byte characters for APM, make sure the language environment variables of the hosts on which SSO and APM operate are the same.

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(44) To use HTTPS for communication with a web browser

SSO provides self-signed certificates. Therefore, you can use HTTPS communication for connection to the SSO console or URL action cooperation without preparing a certificate issued by a CA (certification authority).

Note, however, that web browsers do not trust self-signed certificates. Therefore, when you use the SSO console or URL action cooperation, the web browser or Java displays a security prompt.

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(45) Notes on using the SSO console to limit the number of logged-in users

If a logged-in user terminates the SSO console (closes the web browser) without logging out, the number of logged-in users does not decrease until the session times out.

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