Eduardoware

Is CMDB the end of the line?

2010-12-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

Recently, I have been working with my colleagues in integrating a CMDB with other ITIL processes. We discussed with the CMDB vendor about how we could extract data from it, and the answer was there was no way, and the CMDB is considered the end of the line (not life!).

I spent years talking about (and implementing) CMDB solutions at many customers. We discussed data integration, federation, reconciliation and many other aspects. In many cases, after a long time implementing it, we'd look at a perfect CMDB without a clear understanding on what we would be doing with it.

I understand CMDB is intended to gather data from different sources and is the cornerstone of the ITIL processes. Ideally these ITIL processes would leverage the data in CMDB, without replicating it. The reality thou is different: in many cases, some data need to be extracted from CMDB and loaded into another product (whether from the same vendor or not).

At IBM, we've built the ITIL processes on same platform (Tivoli Process Automation Engine) as the CMDB. Nevertheless, we provide many different ways to extract from (and load into) Tivoli Change and Configuration Management Database (CCMDB).

If your CMDB vendor doesn't provide a way to extract data, my challenge to you is to describe what are the use cases you're planning to use the CMDB for. My opinion: building a CMDB should not be the target, but just the catalyst of a Service Management initiative.

Thoughts? Am I missing anything?

IBM floats new CloudBurst stacks

2010-10-25T06:27:00.001-07:00

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/14/ibm_cloudburst_appliances/

How to pass the subnetworking to be used in a TSAM provisioning

2010-09-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

After enabling the parameters in the TSAM GUI, as described at

http://eduardoware.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-expose-parameters-in-tsam.html

and setting the multiple NIC support, as described at:

http://eduardoware.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-enable-multiple-nic-interfaces.html

then create a new Custom Property, as depicted below:

Remember to set the type to VST.

Furthermore, the proper name of the Property is PMRDP.Net.Subnet_0

How to enable multiple NIC interfaces in TSAM

2010-09-24T06:56:00.001-07:00

Go To -> Administration -> Provisioning -> Provisioning Global Settings
Search for the following property

PMRDP.Net.MultiNicSupport

and set its value to true.

How to expose parameters in the TSAM SimpleSRM interface

2010-09-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

TSAM provides the capability for the end-user to select CPU, memory and disk size, along with which Resource Pool, Image and additional Software to install. Besides that, it's possible to expose any internal parameter in the GUI, opening opportunity for the user to specify values for internal properties.

One use case for this feature is the ability to select which VLAN the VM should be allocated.

The following steps show how to expose the parameters in the GUI (as tioadmin):

Stop TSAM/TPM
cd /opt/IBM/tivoli/tpm/tools/
./tio.sh stop
Create a temporary directory
mkdir ~/temp
cd ~/temp
Copy SRMCommons.jar to the new directory
cp /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/ctgAppSrv01/installedApps/ctgCell01/MAXIMO.ear/SRMCommons.jar .
Open the JAR file
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/java/bin/jar xvf SRMCommons.jar
Edit the config.properties
vi ./com/ibm/tivoli/simplesrm/configuration/config.properties
Search for property ParameterPassing, set it to true:
#If "true" - passing parameter button is visible in Create and Add panels.
ParameterPassing=true
Rebuild the JAR file
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/java/bin/jar cvf SRMCommons.jar .
Copy the new JAR file to the WebSphere directory (you might want to keep a copy of the original JAR file to revert back to the original GUI):
cp SRMCommons.jar /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/ctgAppSrv01/installedApps/ctgCell01/MAXIMO.ear/SRMCommons.jar
Restart TSAM/TPM:
cd /opt/IBM/tivoli/tpm/tools/
./tio.sh start
You'll see a new area at the bottom of the Create Project with Server option:

Clicking the Custom properties button, you'll be able to add any parameter to the Virtual Server Template.

How to start TDS in a TPAE environment

2010-09-23T05:14:00.001-07:00

/opt/IBM/ldap/V6.2/sbin/ibmslapd -I idsccmdb

Virtualization with VMware and IBM: Enjoy the Ride, but Don’t Forget to Buckle Up!

2010-08-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

Good VMware / IBM Security presentation. Recorded session available:

Virtualization with VMware and IBM: Enjoy the Ride,
but Don’t Forget to Buckle Up!
Thursday, August 5, 2010, 9:00 AM PDT / 12:00 PM EST

Organizations are under increasing pressure to deliver more functionality to their businesses and customers. At the heart of this transformation is virtualization. However, the ultimate success of virtualization is not simply dependent on energy efficiency, performance and ease of use. It must also provide these benefits without compromising the overall security, reliability and availability of the IT infrastructure.

Join VMware and experts from IBM Security as we examine many of the concerns associated with virtualization and help organizations better understand and prioritize these risks, as well as help you build a strong security posture that will positions your organization to reap the full rewards of this exciting technology.

View this webcast to find out about:
Involving the IT security team in the initial stages of virtualization projects
Maintaining compliance when adopting a virtualization solution
The limitations of traditional security in virtual data centers and how to mitigate security risks

Featured Speakers:
Bob Kalka, Director, Security Solutions, IBM
Ravi Kumar, Group Product Marketing Manager – Security, VMware

Register today!

TDI 7.1 - DLA video and write-up

2010-08-19T05:56:00.001-07:00

Hot off Eddie's press. The old material we had on this was pre-Eclipse and older IdML components

This is becoming real smooth :)

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIMhQRtB2T0

Here is the latest version of the PDF:
http://www.tdi-users.org/twiki/pub/Integrator/IsmPage/GettingStartedcreatingIdMLDiscoveryBooksDLAswithTDI7.pdf

TSAM 7.2.1 FixPack 1 available

2010-08-16T17:40:00.001-07:00

The TSAM 7.2.1 FixPack 1 is available:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24027500

How to reset VMware ESX root pwd

2010-05-14T08:35:00.001-07:00

Changing a forgotten root password on an ESX host

Integrating TADDM with BMC Atrium

2010-05-12T06:05:00.000-07:00

We got competition!

There is a company that releases a way to integration TADDM with BMC Atrium. See information at: http://www.seamlessti.com/ibm_taddm_cmdb.html

It seems it connects to the TADDM database, instead of using the TADDM API. Suspicious...

The power of a single Service Management platform

2010-04-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

When IBM acquired MRO and decided to build many Service Management products on the top of the Maximo platform, it certainly benefited from the same GUI, lots of common functionality (Integration Framework, Escalation, Security model, to name a few).

However the main benefit of putting all these products (CCMDB, TSRM, TAMIT, TPM) on the top of the Tivoli Process Automation Engine (TPAE) platform is the fact that the data is shared among all the products. So instead of having to push CMDB data into a Service Desk tool or push Incidents to a CMDB, the TPAE platform holds the data once for all these applications to use.

I can't think a better way to build a CMDB-centric ITIL implementation that having all ITIC processes sharing the same data. The alternative is to push CMDB data into a Service Desk tool, an Asset Management tool, and so on, making the project focus on data shuffling.

The benefit is that, using an IBM-based solution, the ITIL implementation can evolve from starting with one ITIL process to the next one, and the task is to install and configure the ITIL Process Management, not to be concern about how to move data around.

Thoughts?

How Tivoli Directory Integrator can be used in the federation of a CMDB

2010-04-23T20:23:00.000-07:00

Tivoli Directory Integrator is a fantastic and flexible data integration tool that can be used efficiently in implementing the data federation in a CMDB.

IBM's approach for CMDB federation is based on an XML file that complies to an XML schema called Identity Markup Language. TDI is a great and simple way to generate these XML files, as it abstracts all the nuances of the XML file into CI types and attributes. This video shows how easy it's to create this IDML file.

The power of TDI thou doesn't come from the IDML Connector, but it comes from the plethora of available connectors (JDBC, JMS, Notes DB, Web Service, HTTP, to name a few) and the flexibility it provides to connect many data sources without the need to write a single line of code. Want to create an IDML with just the data that changed since last time? You got it. In TDI, it's just a few click away, just the Delta capability.

Another interesting aspect is that there are other TDI connectors available in the CMDB / Service Management space: the Maximo Generic Connector let us interface with CCMDB without having to generate an IDML file, but going through Tivoli Integration Framework. The TADDM Connector lets you create (and retrieve) CI from TADDM, which will be imported into CCMDB.

Questions? Comments?

Federation and reconciliation goes hand-in-hand in a CMDB implementation

2010-04-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

When we talk about federation in a CMDB implementation, it's because there are multiple data sources that need to be combined as a single repository (even if the data is not physically combined into one single database).

Having multiple data sources implies that they will many times refer to the same Configuration Item, raising the question of how to reconcile these records. Traditionally, CMDB products chose a primary key that is used to merge the data; however, my experience shows it's difficult to identify a single attribute that can be universally to identify a CI type. As an example, although a computer serial number might seems a good candidate, we have seen that many products don't provide such attribute, but relies on IP address as the identifier. The same argument can be used for IP address and any other attribute.

At IBM, we decided to take a different approach: instead of relying an attribute or a collection of attributes to uniquely identify a CI, we have defined many naming rules for each CI types and enforce that each data source provides the attribute of at least one rule. So if a product uses serial number to identify a CI, another uses serial number and IP address, and a third one, just IP address, this ingenious approach will be able to determine when they represent the same CI.

So the integration with IBM CCMDB is based on having products providing data according to a common data model in a process named Discovery Library Adapter.

The alternative of implementing this federation / reconciliation approach is to defer the reconciliation of the data instead of doing it before the data is imported into a CMDB. Some products define the concept of many buckets of data that are combined through a reconciliation mechanism. Although this approach simplifies the data loading process, it defers to the user the responsibility of federating and creates another hop in the data chain.

Next we'll talk about how we can use Tivoli products to assist in federating the data into a CMDB.

Federation capability on CMDB

2010-04-23T19:49:00.000-07:00

Since the inception of a Configuration Management Database concept, there has been this notion that CMDB needs to be a federated solution. But what qualifies a federation, as the term is certainly overused and stretched in many directions.

Here is wikipedia.org definition of IT Federation:

A Federation is multiple computing and/or network providers agreeing upon standards of operation in a collective fashion. The term may be used when describing the inter-operation of two distinct, formally disconnected, telecommunications networks that may have different internal structures. The term may also be used when groups attempt to delegate collective authority of development to prevent fragmentation.

Well, it doesn't tell a lot, except it says about multiple computers working together. I see two distinct ways to achieve such interoperability:

data integration, traditionally called ETL (extract, transform and load), where data from a data source is physically moved to another data source. A data integration has the benefits of all the data will be concentrated into one single repository, which addresses an intriguing question about a CMDB: without bringing the data together, how can we build a CMDB if the data sits in an external data without any kind of Change Management process to update it?
use tools, like IBM InfoSphere Federation Server to portrait the data as a single repository, even if it resides physically in many data sources. The main advantage of this approach is the fact that the data doesn't need to be synchronized and it's retrieved only when needed. It creates the issue of how to keep track of CMDB changes when there are many data sources, and the associated products are updating the data sources at their own will.

My recommendation for a CMDB is to have a balance between data integration and real-time federation, where the key attributes of brought to a centralized database and unsupervised or volatile attributes are kept in their original data sources.

Next I will talk how reconciliation is related to federation and CMDB.

Running KVM and VMware Server in the same machine

2010-03-19T06:05:00.000-07:00

After enabling virtualization in the BIOS, I can't start a VMware VM anymore, as I received the following message:

Error while powering on: Failed to initialize monitor device.

To fix this problem, I had the unload the kvm modules:

sudo rmmod kvm_intel
sudo rmmod kvm

After that, I can load a VMware VM. Then, the KVM doesn't work, as you can test by running the following command:

eduardo@eduardo-laptop:~$ kvm-ok
INFO: Your CPU supports KVM extensions
INFO: /dev/kvm does not exist
HINT: sudo modprobe kvm
KVM acceleration can NOT be used

The fix is right there: run sudo modprobe kvm, then everybody is happy!

Maybe not. After loading the kvm module, the VMware VM just dies. I guess there is no harmony between KVM and VMware. Any ideas?

New version of the TDI IDML Connector

2010-02-25T13:06:00.001-08:00

Mat Davis put a lot of work in enhancing and publishing a new version of the IDML Connector. It's available at:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/brandcatalog/portal/opal/details?NavCode=1TW10CC16

Self provision of virtual machines using IBM Tivoli products (TiSAM, ITM and Omnibus)

2010-02-15T13:11:00.000-08:00

Here is a video Eswara and I made showing self-provisioning of virtual machines using TiSAM, ITM and Omnibus.
Enjoy!

How can we integrate with HP CMDB - part 3

2009-12-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

Here are some code to interact with HP SM7 Web Services. It uses an AXIS library generated from the WSDL file, available at iTunes or the following link: HP SM7 Axis Library.

ci = new Packages.com.hp.schemas.SM._7.Common.StringType (work.getString ("NAME"));

keys = new Packages.com.hp.schemas.SM._7.DeviceKeysType ();
keys.setConfigurationItem (ci);

instance = new Packages.com.hp.schemas.SM._7.DeviceInstanceType ();
status = new Packages.com.hp.schemas.SM._7.Common.StringType ("In use");
instance.setStatus (status);
computer = new Packages.com.hp.schemas.SM._7.Common.StringType ("computer");
instance.setConfigurationItemType(computer);
application = new Packages.com.hp.schemas.SM._7.Common.StringType ("application");
instance.setAssignmentGroup (application);

messageType = new Packages.com.hp.schemas.SM._7.Common.MessageType();
messageTypes = [messageType];

type = new Packages.com.hp.schemas.SM._7.DeviceModelType (keys, instance, messageTypes, "query");
booleanf = new java.lang.Boolean (false);
booleant = new java.lang.Boolean (true);

request = new Packages.com.hp.schemas.SM._7.CreateDeviceRequest (type, booleanf, booleanf, booleant);

task.logmsg ("request: " + request);

locator = new Packages.com.hp.schemas.SM._7.Device_ServiceLocator ();

device = locator.getDevice ();

device.setUsername ("falcon");

response = device.createDevice (request);

task.logmsg ("response: " + response + " message: " + response.getMessage());
messages = response.getMessages ();
for (message in messages) {
task.logmsg ("messages: " + message);
}

How can we integrate with HP CMDB? - Part 2

2009-12-02T19:54:00.000-08:00

Nothing like having the opportunity to touch an HP Service Management 7 installation and see first hand what's possible and what's not.

The bottom line is that, like any 'modern' application, HP SM7 makes available Web Service for interacting with the module, like Change Management and Configuration Items.

So, forget what I said before, because it's possible to load data directly into HP SM7 using the Web Service interface.

I didn't find a way to reconcile the data coming from multiple data sources, but at least the parable of not being able to load data into HP SM7 is not true.

How can we integrate with HP CMDB?

2009-11-19T16:11:00.000-08:00

HP CMDB (HP CMDB link) is HP's solution for the Configuration Management System (CMS).It's a re-brand of the Mercury uCMDB product. As with any CMDB, it has the ability to import or federate data.

Although not clearly stated, it seems that the only provider of imported data is HP Discovery and Dependency Manager (HP DDM), another Mercury product.

So the only remaining alternative is to federate data, which represents a real compelling solution, as it doesn't require to ETL (extract, transform and load) the data.

The issue arrives when multiple data sources (including HP DDM) are referring to the same resource. Although not clearly stated, HP CMDB doesn't seem to provide a way to reconcile the data, but it defers this job to HP SM7 (HP SM7), another suite of products that can consume HP CMDB data.

Bottom line: although not state clearly, there seems to be no way to load data into HP CMDB, neither there is a way to reconcile federated data.

Hard to believe? Tell me if you know anything different...

How to delete all CCMDB Authorized CI classification

2009-11-16T10:22:00.000-08:00

Here is the script to delete all CCMDB Authorized CI classification:

delete from select classstructure where classstructureid in (select classstructureid from classusewith where objectname = 'CI')

Wills, do it at your own risk.

How to make TPM 5.1.1 configure a Ubuntu machine properly

2009-09-30T03:43:00.000-07:00

As you know, TPM 5.1.1 can deploy RedHat and SuSE. What about the popular distro Ubuntu? The answer is: the TPM 5.1.1 workflow, as the hostname is not properly changed in Ubuntu.

To fix that, you just have to add the following line to the script /opt/ibm/tivoli/tpm/repository/vmware-vi3-scripts/config_linux.sh:

#Password setup
echo "${rootpassword}" | passwd --stdin root

# EP start
echo ${hostname} > /etc/hostname

# EP end

# Shutdown
shutdown -h now

With that, TPM 5.1.1 can successfully define the hostname in Ubuntu.

Creating Extended Attributes with the TDI IdML Connector

2009-09-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

As you know, the IdML Connector can be used to create (guess what...) an IdML!

The tags in the IdML comply to the Common Data Model, and when they are written to the XML file, they are preceded with the "cdm:".

TADDM has the concept of Extended Attribute. The question is: how to specify an extended attributes using the IDML Connector?

The answer is simple, Vince: In the Attribute Connector area, create an attribute whose name starts with "extattr:". The IDML Connector treats these attributes differently: it doesn't try to find a corresponding attribute in the Common Data Model, but simply copies them to the XML file.

Go, have fun with the IDML Connector!

Federation and TPAE

2009-04-27T12:12:00.001-07:00

Introduction

This document describes how the Tivoli Process Automation Engine (TPAE) can be configured to use a federated data source.

Assumptions:

This document assumes that DB2 Enterprise Edition Server is being used as a backend database for the TPAE.

Configuration:

Run the following command to enable the federation in a DB2 instance:

DB2 update dbm cfg using FEDERATED YES

Scenario

Assume there is a DB2 database containing information about Computer System, to be federated with the Authorized CI space in the Change and Configuration Management Database (CCMDB). Here is the DB2 table definition:

COMPUTER_OWNER table

Column Name	Column Type	Length
COMPUTER_OWNER_ID	INTEGER
COMPUTER_NAME	VARCHAR	50
OWNER	VARCHAR	50

with the following contents:

COMPUTER_OWNERID	COMPUTER_NAME	OWNER
16	bush.my.com	Dan Quayle
18	bushw.my.com	Dick Chenney
14	carter.my.com	Walter Mondale
17	clinton.my.com	Al Gore
5	coolidge.my.com	Charles Dawes
9	eisenhower.my.com	Richard Nixon
13	ford.my.com	Nelson Rockfeller
7	froosevelt.my.com	John Garner
4	harding.my.com	Calvin Colidge
6	hoover.my.com	Charles Curtis
11	johnson.my.com	Hubert Humphrey
10	kennedy.my.com	Lyndon Johnson
12	nixon.my.com	Spiro Agnew
19	obama.my.com	Joe Biden
15	reagan.my.com	George Bush
2	taft.my.com	James Sherman
1	troosevelt.my.com	Charles Fairbanks
8	truman.my.com	Alben Barkley
3	wilson.my.com	Thomas Marshall

Configuring TPAE

Creating New Database Object

Although the COMPUTER_OWNER table will be federated from an external database, in order to use this table in TPAE, it needs to be defined using the Database Configuration application (under System Configuration -> Platform Configuration).

In the Database Configuration application, click New Object:

Type COMPUTER_OWNER in the Object field, and Computer Owner in the Description:

In the Attributes tab, add the attributes COMPUTER_NAME and OWNER and delete the attribute DESCRIPTION:

Save the new Database Object.

Applying the Database Change

Make a backup of the TPAE database
Go back to the List tab
In the Select Action pull down menu, choose Manage Admin Mode
Click Turn Admin Mode ON

Click the Refresh Status button until the Admin Mode is set to ON:

Close the Turn Admin Mode ON dialog
In the Select Action pull down menu, click Apply Configuration Changes
Select the Do you have a current backup? checkbox
Click the Start Configuring the Database button:

Click the Refresh Status button until the End ConfigDB message is displayed:

Close the Structural Database Configuration dialog.

Creating the Relationship

Select the CI Object:

Click the Relationships tab
Add the new Relationship, specifying the following information:

Relationship: COMPUTER_OWNER
Child Object: COMPUTER_OWNER
Where Clause: computer_name = :cinum

Save the new Relationship
Go back to the List tab

Modifying TPAE GUI to show the federated information

In this step, we'll add the Computer Owner to the TPAE GUI.

Go to Application Designed (under System Configuration -> Platform Configuration).
Select the CI application:

Click the Configuration Item tab
Select the Organization attribute:

Right-click the CI Location attribute and click Copy
Click the section containing the CI Location attribute:

Right click the section and select Paste. A copy of the Organization attribute is put in the section.
Right-click the new Organization field and select Properties
In the Attribute field, type COMPUTER_OWNER.OWNER
Define a value in the Label field:

Save your work in the Application Designer

Configuring Database Nickname

So far, the database still contains a table (created through the Database Configuration application). We'll redefine it as a nickname to the table in another database.

Registering the Federated Database in the TPAE Database Server

If the federated database is in another database instance, the database needs to be registered in the TPAE database server.

Run the following command to register the node:
db2 catalog tcpip node federate remote <remote_db_server> server <remote_db_port>
Run the following command to register the instance:
db2 catalog db <remote_db> at node federate

Creating the Database Nickname

In the DB2 Control Center, expand the options under MAXDB71 and select Tables
The application shows all tables. Right-click the table COMPUTER_OWNER and select Drop
In the left side, under MAXDB71, right-click Nicknames and select Create..
In the Introduction screen, click Next
In the Specify the data source and the wrapper, select DB2.
Click the Create... button in the Wrappers area.
Click OK in the Create Wrapper dialog.
Click Next.
In the Specify the server definition for the data source, click the Create... button
In the Create Server Definitions dialog, click the Discover.. button
Select the federated database and define the Type and Version:
Click Properties...
In the Server Definition Properties dialog, type the User ID and Password:
Click OK to close the Server Definition Properties
Click OK to close the Create Server Definitions
In the Create Nicknames dialog, click Next twice
In the Define Nicknames windows, click Discover...
In the Discover dialog, filter by Schema name
Select the table and click Properties...
In the Nickname schema, select MAXIMO and click OK
Click Finish to close the Create Nicknames dialog.

Create User Mappings

Expand the Federated Database Objects
Expand DRDA
Expand Server Definitions
Expand the Server name
Select User Mappings

Click Create New User Mapping
In the Create User Mapping dialog, select the MAXIMO user:
On the Settings tab, specify the remote user and password and click OK:

Viewing the Federated Data

After the nickname has being configured, the federated data can be seen in the Authorized CI application:

Using the deltaEngine.js to determine changes in TDI

2009-04-27T09:14:00.001-07:00

Introduction

This document describes how to use the JavaScript code deltaEngine.js to determine changes in the data source.

This document extends the tutorial Creating IDML Books using Tivoli Directory Integrator (DLA Tutorial), describing how to create a Discovery Library Adapter. Certainly, the deltaEngine can be used in any Assembly Line, and the use in the DLA process is just an example.

Configuration of deltaEngine.js

The component deltaEngine.js can be obtained from Lotus Quickr Place. Copy this file to your TDI solution directory. Then follow these steps to configure it:

Right-click Scripts and click New Script

In the Input Text, give the Script a name and click OK:

Click the Config... tab, select the Implicitly Included checkbox and the add the deltaEngine.js file:

Click the Properties and add a new Property file:

In the Connector Configuration tab, specify a name to the Property file:

In the Property Stores list, move the Derby-Properties to the top of the list:

In the Editor tab, define the properties below, adjusting the com.ibm.di.store.database property according to your TDI solution directory:

Configuration of the System Store

Before we can use the TDI System Store, we need to start it. Follow these steps to start it:

Click Store -> Network Server Settings:

Click Start:

Using the deltaEngine Script

This section describes the procedure to use the deltaEngine in an Assembly Line:

In a suitable spot in your Assemby Line, add a Script

In the Input Text dialog, give it a name and click OK:

Type the following script in the CalculateDelta:

deltaEntry = deltaEngine.computeDelta (work, "machine");

task.logmsg ("deltaEntry: " + deltaEntry.getOperation ());

Run your Assembly Line. The first time you run the Assembly Line, it shows the deltaEntry operation as add, indicating the records should be added. The subsequent runs show the operation as generic, indicating there was no change to the entry:

11:54:20 11:54:20 @@Old snapshot: [machine:troosevelt.my.com] 11:54:20 @@Commiting snapshot changes... 11:54:20 @@finished 11:54:20 deltaEntry: generic 11:54:20

Assuming we want to skip the entries that have no change, add the following code to CalculateDelta script:

deltaEntry = deltaEngine.computeDelta (work, "machine");

task.logmsg ("deltaEntry: " + deltaEntry.getOperation ());

if (!deltaEntry.getOperation().equals ("add")) { task.logmsg ("Skipping entry: " + work.getString ("machine")); system.skipEntry (); }
Now, the Assemby Line will skip the records that are not new to the data source.

Conclusion

This tutorial showed how to use the deltaEngine.js to determine changes in the data source. With a few steps, it's possible to leverage the internal TDI System Store to store a snapshot of the data source and skip records that have been processed.

CA Spectrum Discovery Library Adapter

2009-04-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

In the old days, a Discovery Library Adapter was described as a Java component that exports the data from a certain product as an XML file that complies to the IDML XML schema format.

Well, since then a DLA has been described as a process to export data into this XML schema, without mentioning Java component, as the use of data integration tools, like Tivoli Directory Integrator, proved more effective to create an IDML file.

My goal is expand the mechanism to create DLA, and I always dreamed to create a DLA in perl. Well, here is the perfect opportunity:

The CA Spectrum DLA

This DLA is very simple and can be run in any machine

#!/usr/bin/perl
print "Go, talk to your CA representative and demand a change to CA's license agreement\n"

Done!!

Here is the deal: according the CA license agreement, CA owns the data it collects with its product, so other products can't retrieve it. So, it's illegal to write a DLA for CA. How stupid that it!!

Imagine if IBM Information Management group crafts the following statement: "The data stored in an IBM DB2 relational database belongs to IBM and can't be extract for the purpose of moving to another database."

Imagine if EMC puts a similar statement, saying: "The data stored in an EMC storage device belongs to EMC and can't be used to move data outside an EMC device."

The world would be unmanageable! As a customer, if I buy a certain product, I would expect that I can use the data collected in any way I want. Now with CA...

The solution: get rid of these CA. Your life will be better without them.

How to determine which change is using a certain workflow

2009-03-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

When there is an active instance using a certain workflow process, it can't be disabled. To see which work order is using a certain workflow, go to the Workflow Administration application. It lists al active process and allows to stop them.

Comparing TADDM performance on different platforms

2009-03-15T17:36:00.001-07:00

Introduction

This document compares the running time of running discovery in TADDM 7.1.2 on a virtual environment (VMware ESX) and a non-virtual environment. This is not an comprehensive test, and should not take as TADDM performance result, but just as a comparison study of the TADDM Server in different platforms.

Platforms

Virtual environment

Linux RedHat Enterprise Server Release 5
2 vCPU
3600 MB
VMware ESX, with just 1 VM running

Non-virtual Windows environment

Windows 2003 SP2
2 CPUs
3200 MB
TADDM 7.1.2 and DB2 collocated in one server

Non-virtual Linux environment

Linux RedHat Enterprise Server Release 5
2 CPUs
3200 MB
TADDM 7.1.2 and DB2 collocated in one server

Two server, non-virtual environment

TADDM Server in the Windows environment above
DB2 Server in a separate machine, same specification as the server above

Target environment

37 Computer Systems, consisting of Windows, AIX, HP-UX, Solaris and Linux machines.
Number of components found: 315 (3 Server Equivalents)

Running time

Running time	Virtual environment	Windows environment	Linux environment	Two-server environment
Level 3 Discovery	30 min 47 sec	8 min 49 sec	28 min 37 sec	6 min 4 sec
Level 3 Discovery without WebSphereCellSensor	10 min 36 sec	7 min 43 sec	6 min 16 sec	5 min 8 sec
Level 2 Discovery	10 min 15 sec	5 min 6 sec	7 min 34 sec	4 min 4 sec
100 MB IDML bulk load (250,000 CIs)	13 hours 9 min	5 hours 52 min	13 hours 55 min	22 hours 19 min
Level 3 Rediscovery after bulk load	30 min 4 sec	6 min 47 sec	16 min 25 sec	6 min 24 sec

Conclusions

Even in a small scale, the discovery process in a Virtual environment is almost 4 times slower than in a non-virtual environment
Although the run time for other activities don't show significant difference, the discovery process in a Virtual environment is just prohibitive.
Except for bulk loading, a two-server environment had the best performance in all tests.

Bringing Microsoft Active Directory manager information into Tivoli Process Automation Engine

2009-03-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

Go to TPAE, DB Config, select PERSON table and add the following attributes
- supervisor_dn as aln(511);
- person_dn as aln(511).

Still in the DB Config, define the following relationship in the PERSON table:

Go to TPAE, Cron Task Setup, select LDAPSYNC and create a user mapping like the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE ldapsync SYSTEM "ldapuser.dtd">
<ldapsync>
<user>
<basedn>...</basedn>
<filter>(objectClass=user) </filter>
<scope>subtree</scope>
<attributes>
<attribute>sAMAccountName</attribute>
<attribute>givenName</attribute>
<attribute>displayName</attribute>
<attribute>memberOf</attribute>
<attribute>sn</attribute>
<attribute>manager</attribute>
<attribute>distinguishedName</attribute>
</attributes>
<datamap>
<table name="MAXUSER">
<keycolumn name="USERID" type="UPPER">sAMAccountName</keycolumn>
<column name="LOGINID" type="ALN">sAMAccountName</column>
<column name="PERSONID" type="UPPER">sAMAccountName</column>
<column name="STATUS" type="UPPER">{ACTIVE}</column>
<column name="TYPE" type="UPPER">{PRIMARY}</column>
<column name="QUERYWITHSITE" type="YORN">{1}</column>
<column name="FORCEEXPIRATION" type="YORN">{0}</column>
<column name="FAILEDLOGINS" type="YORN">{0}</column>
<column name="PASSWORD" type="CRYPTO">{0}</column>
<column name="MAXUSERID" type="INTEGER">{:uniqueid}</column>
<column name="SYSUSER" type="YORN">{0}</column>
<column name="INACTIVESITES" type="YORN">{0}</column>
<column name="SCREENREADER" type="YORN">{0}</column>
</table>
<table name="PERSON">
<keycolumn name="PERSONID" type="UPPER">sAMAccountName</keycolumn>
<column name="FIRSTNAME" type="ALN">givenName</column>
<column name="LASTNAME" type="ALN">sn</column>
<column name="STATUS" type="UPPER">{ACTIVE}</column>
<column name="TRANSEMAILELECTION" type="UPPER">{NEVER}</column>
<column name="STATUSDATE" type="ALN">{:sysdate}</column>
<column name="ACCEPTINGWFMAIL" type="YORN">{1}</column>
<column name="LOCTOSERVREQ" type="YORN">{1}</column>
<column name="PERSONUID" type="INTEGER">{:uniqueid}</column>
<column name="HASLD" type="YORN">{0}</column>
<column name="LANGCODE" type="UPPER">{en}</column>
<column name="PERSON_DN" type="UPPER">distinguishedName</column>
<column name="SUPERVISOR_DN" type="UPPER">manager</column>
</table>
</datamap>
</user>
</ldapsync>

Go to Action application and define the following Action:

Go to Escalation application and define the following Escalation:

DB2 on Rails

2009-03-02T06:29:00.000-08:00

I'm starting again with the IBM_DB adapter gem, available at: http://rubyforge.org/projects/rubyibm/

gem install ibm_db
rails newapp
cd newapp
ruby script/console
>> gem 'ibm_db'
ruby script/generate model person
in the file db/migrate/*_create_person.rb, define the following:

class CreatePeople < ActiveRecord::Migration
def self.up
create_table :people do |t|
t.column :firstname, :string
t.column :lastname, :string
t.column :phone, :stringgg
end
end

def self.down
drop_table :people
end
end

rake db:migrate

DB2 on Rails

2009-01-31T04:40:00.000-08:00

It's time to test running Rails with DB2 as the backend.

I downloaded the information from http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/db2onrails.

I am running on Linux, so I did:

export DB2DIR=/opt/IBM/db2/V9.1_01
export DB2LIB=/opt/IBM/db2/V9.1_01/lib32

then:

cd Source
rake

It failed with the following message:

checking for SQLConnect() in -ldb2... no
*** extconf.rb failed ***
Could not create Makefile due to some reason, probably lack of
necessary libraries and/or headers. Check the mkmf.log file for more
details. You may need configuration options.

Looking at the mkmf.log, I see:

conftest.c:3: error: ‘SQLConnect’ undeclared (first use in this function)
conftest.c:3: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
conftest.c:3: error: for each function it appears in.)

It seems the environment variables were not set properly.
I ran it again and got the following message:

Database environment is not set up
Run ". /home/db2inst1/sqllib/db2profile" and retry

After sourcing the db2profile, I ran with the following messages:

Loaded suite tests
Started
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Finished in 0.593455 seconds.

But I seems the shared library has been generated successfully.

cp ibm_db2.so /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/i686-linux/

Installing the Adapter

cp ibm_db2_adapter.rb /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.2.2/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/
vi /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.2.2/lib/active_record.rb

Well, after trying that without success, I found the following response in the forum:

Given that RAILS_CONNECTION_ADAPTERS went away, the IBM gem is no longer called "ibm_db2", and that the minimum software requirements have changed, I recommend skipping the "Toolkit for DB2 on Rails" and to start learning about the "ibm_db" gem here: http://rubyforge.org/projects/rubyibm/

N.B. The unwarranted license of DB2 Express-C is currently limited to using 2 processor cores & 2 GB of memory. However, it's still a better option than "Oracle XE".

Starting from scratch...

Ruby and DB2

2009-01-12T12:53:00.000-08:00

The next step is my Ruby adventure is to use DB2 as the data source. This will allow to plug RoR to many applications that have DB2 as the backend.

* Some instructions on how to download the DB2 driver is described at: http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/IBM+DB2

* After that, let me try to scaffold a DB2-based application: Tivoli Process Automation Engine

* cd ~/Rails
* mkdir TPAE
* cd TPAE
* rails tpae
* cd tpae/config
* vi database.yml

development:
adapter: ibm_db
database: maxdb71
username: maximo
password: itsmswat
schema: maximo
host: ismdbserver.tivlab.raleigh.ibm.com
port: 50005

* rake db:migrate --trace
* It failed with the following message:
Failed to connect to the [maxdb71] due to:
* It seems the problem is related because I forgot to load the DB2 profile
* . ~db2inst1/sqllib/db2profile
* rake db:migrate --trace
* I got a different problem:
Failed to connect to the [maxdb71] due to: [IBM][CLI Driver] CLI0133E Option type out of range. SQLSTATE=HY092 SQLCODE=-99999
* export LIBPATH=/home/db2inst1/sqllib/lib
* It seems I need to read some instructions on http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/db2onrails. Another day.

Ruby plugin for Eclipse

2009-01-07T05:32:00.000-08:00

I found a Ruby plugin for Eclipse at: http://update.aptana.com/update/rails/3.2/

I had first to install Eclipse Monkey, described at http://www.brain-bakery.com/projects/articles/eclipse-monkey-scripting/. Also I had to install the Aptana Studio from: http://www.aptana.com/docs/index.php/Plugging_Aptana_into_an_existing_Eclipse_configuration

There are some instructions on how to use at: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/library/os-rubyeclipse/

My first experience with Ruby on Rails

2009-01-03T06:30:00.000-08:00

It's a new year, so I decided to learn a new language / environment. I chose Ruby on Rails,so here comes my experience.

I am following the tutorial at: http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2006/12/14/revisiting-ruby-on-rails-revisited.html, which has been written for Rails 1.2.6. My environment thou is Rails 2.0. So, here are the steps I followed:

cd ~/Rails
rails cookbook2
cd cookbook2
rake db:create:all
./script/generate scaffold Category name:string
rake db:migrate
./script/server

Then point your browser to http://localhost:30000. It shows the RoR welcome page.

Go to file config/routes.rb and file the following line:

ActionController::Routing::Routes.draw do |map|
map.root :controller=> 'categories'
map.resources :categories

Now point your browser to http://localhost:3000/categories, and you are ready to create categories!

Creating the recipe table

./script/generate scaffold Recipe category:references title:string description:string instructions:text
rake db:migrate

Now point your browser to http://localhost:3000/recipes and you're ready to create recipes!

Scripts to start the TPAP components

2008-11-12T03:22:00.000-08:00

These are the scripts used to start the TPAP (CCMDB, TAMIT) components:

startmw.sh
su - db2inst1 -c "db2start"
su - ctginst1 -c "db2start"
su - idsccmdb -c "db2start"
/opt/ibm/ldap/V6.1/sbin/32/ibmdiradm -I idsccmdb
/opt/ibm/ldap/V6.1/sbin/32/ibmslapd -I idsccmdb

startwas.sh
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/ctgDmgr01/bin/startManager.sh
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/ctgAppSrv01/bin/startNode.sh
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/ctgAppSrv01/bin/startServer.sh MXServer

stopwas.sh
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/ctgAppSrv01/bin/stopServer.sh MXServer -username wasadmin -password itsmswat
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/ctgAppSrv01/bin/stopNode.sh -username wasadmin -password itsmswat
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/ctgDmgr01/bin/stopManager.sh -username wasadmin -password itsmswat

stopmw.sh
/opt/ibm/ldap/V6.1/sbin/32/ibmslapd -k idsccmdb
/opt/ibm/ldap/V6.1/sbin/32/ibmdiradm -k idsccmdb
su - db2inst1 -c "db2stop force"
su - ctginst1 -c "db2stop force"
su - idsccmdb -c "db2stop force"

Explaining the Initialization mode in a TDI Loop

2008-11-10T03:21:00.000-08:00

Very often with TDI, it's necessary to put a Loop in an Assembly Line, so that the Work Entries from the Feed can be used to perform another query to retrieve some data. An example is with Tivoli Application Depdendency Discovery Manager (TADDM) and obtaining all IP addresses for a ComputerSystem. The IP addresses are attributes of the IpAddress object, which is related to an IpInterface, which is then related to a ComputerSystem object, so in order to retrieve the IP addresses of a Computer System we need to correlate ComputerSystem, IpInterface and IpAddress.

To do that using TDI (avoid the need to process XML files or write Java code), we can use the TADDM Connector, available at: Tivoli OPAL

As the TADDM Connector allows to specify the depth of the query, our first inclination is specify depth=3, which would directly return all attributes from the ComputerSystems and related object in just one shot. This approach is great and simple, but puts a lot of work on TDI (and TADDM server) to retrieve all attributes of depth 3, which can easily turn to be thousands, for each Computer System. For an environment containing about 2500 servers, it took 15 minutes to retrieve the IP addressses and dump them in a very simple Assembly Line.

A second option is to read only the attributes of ComputerSystem (at depth 1), then put a Loop to retrieve the IpInterfaces, linking them to the ComputerSystem and reading at depth 2. The Assembly Line is a little bit more complicated, and the main problem is that the AL takes 36 minutes, instead of the previous version.

The reason for this performance degradation is the fact that TDI is re-initializing the connection to TADDM for every single ComputerSystem. Looking at the Loop, by default TDI uses Initialize and Select/Lookup as the Init Options, which means that the Connector is initialized every time. Changing it to Select / Lookup only leads to a running time of mere 6 minutes!

So take good care of your TDI Loop!

Eddie, so far no JavaScript code!

Splitting multi-valued variables in TDI

2008-11-07T04:01:00.000-08:00

In many cases, we have an entry with multiple values (separated by comma, for example), and we need to split those values and process one at a time.

Assuming there is an entry with the following values:

10.4.128.24, 10.4.128.160, 10.4.128.161, 10.4.128.220, 10.4.128.227, 10.4.128.229, 10.4.128.231, 10.4.128.232, 10.4.128.209, 10.4.129.24

Here are the steps to process each value at a time:

In your AL, add a script component with the following code
multiValued = work.getString ("MultiValued");

task.logmsg ("multi valued: " + multiValued);

tokenizer = new java.util.StringTokenizer (multiValued, ",");
work.setAttribute ("values", null);

while (tokenizer.hasMoreTokens ()) {
token = tokenizer.nextToken ();
task.logmsg ("value: " + token);
work.addAttributeValue ("values", token);

}
Add a Loop to your AL
In the Loop, select Attribute Value Loop
In the Work Attribute Name, type values (which matches the Work Entry defined in the code above)
In the Loop Attribute Name, type value
Inside the loop, you'll have the value Work Entry with a single value to process.

That's it!

Script to launch ABBA with TADDM 7.1.2

2008-11-06T06:33:00.000-08:00

TADDM 7.1.2 is coming soon, and the JAR files for the TADDM API have been consolidated into just one JAR (no comments on backward compatibility...). The tool works with TADDM 7.1.2; we just need to change the required JAR files, so here is a script to launch it with the new version:

export TADDM_SDK=/home/eduardo/Tivoli/TADDM/712/sdk/clientlib
java -cp bin/abba.jar:$TADDM_SDK/taddm-api-client.jar com.ibm.cmdb.tool.abba.ABBAGUI $*

By the way, this incredible tool can be downloaded from: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/brandcatalog/portal/opal/details?catalog.label=1TW10TA0X

Launching TADDM in context without a GUID

2008-10-04T08:34:00.000-07:00

TADDM certainly provides a cool way to be launched in a context, as documented at:

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v10r1/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.taddm.doc_7.1/AdminGuide/r_cmdb_launchincontext.html

For example,

http://taddm_server:9430/cdm/servlet/LICServlet?guid=B435980E80FA39509EBFE294D70BA5C8

will launch TADDM Produce Console in the context of a GUID.

The problem arises when the launching application doesn't know the GUID.
I created a Java Server Page to bridge between such application and TADDM. It's available at:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddnnhc4w_307dffpq3gs

Download the file as taddm_launcher.jsp
Edit the line defining the TADDM_SERVER to your TADDM installation
Copy the file to the TADDM Server to the directory /deploy-tomcat/cdm
Point your browser to
http://taddm_server:9430/cdm/taddm_launcher.jsp?name=computer_system_name
replacing taddm_server and the computer_system_name accordingly

This work can certainly be expanded to launch other sections of TADDM and other kinds of resources (it works only with ComputerSystem objects).

The syntax of the Launch in Context URL can be found at:

TADDM Documentation

Extending TAMIT ASSETNUM attribute field length

2008-09-24T08:14:00.000-07:00

Here is the procedure to extend the size of the attribute ASSETNUM in the ASSET MBO in TAMIT:

Do a database backup
Go To-> System Configuration -> Platform Configuration -> Database Configuration
Object: ASSET
Select ASSET
Go to Attributes tab
Select ASSETNUM
Change the length to 32
The attribute will be in Change mode
Save it
Go to List tab
Select Action -> Managed Admin Mode
Click Turn Admin Mode On
Click Refresh Status until Admin Mode is ON
Connect to TPAP DB
db2 drop trigger multiassetloccip_u
db2 drop trigger multiassetloccip_t
Select Action -> Apply Configuration Changes
Check Do you have a current backup?
Click Start Configuring the Databsase
Click Turn Admin Mode OFF

TDI class material

2008-09-18T02:23:00.000-07:00

These are the links for the material used in the TDI class in Charlotte on Sep 18 - 20, 2008

Source CSV file: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p4p_qEbMe9m6VL-TWV1NyQQ
Lab instructions: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddnnhc4w_2793ph5zxcg
Presentation: http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=ddnnhc4w_54f9tnwmd2

How to configure TADDM 7.1.1 to run BIRT reports

2008-09-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

1. replace the reports.xml in dist/etc/cdm/xml
2. replace the dist/deploy-tomcat/cdm/WEB-INF/view/dm_newsummary_sidebar.jsp with the one here
3. untar birt-viewer.tar to dist/deploy-tomcat/
4. restart the server
5. Login to domain manager and you shd see the BIRT reports icon with a list of reports under the Analytics section

These files are available at: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=N1VTT5LT

Exporting data from TADDM

2008-09-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

It's very simple to extract data from Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager (TADDM), using Tivoli Directory Integrator (TDI) and the TADDM Connector, available at:

TADDM Connector at Tivoli OPAL

Using the TADDM Connector, you just specify the TADDM configuration information (host name, user, password, CI type), then drag and drop the fields into the desired Connector (for example, a CSV file, using the FileSystem Connector).

Setting the JDBC Transaction Isolation Level in TDI

2008-08-13T05:22:00.000-07:00

As the JDBC Transaction Isolation needs to be set in the client side, I asked my Norwegian friends how to do it. As always, Eddie had the answer:

So you should have this option from TDI:

myJDBConnector.getConnector().getConnection().setTransactionIsolation( desiredLevel_int );

The Connection JavaDocs have this to say:

setTransactionIsolation
public void setTransactionIsolation(int level)
throws SQLException
Attempts to change the transaction isolation level for this Connection object to the one given. The constants defined in the interface Connection are the possible transaction isolation levels.
Note: If this method is called during a transaction, the result is implementation-defined.
Parameters:
level - one of the following Connection constants: Connection.TRANSACTION_READ_UNCOMMITTED, Connection.TRANSACTION_READ_COMMITTED, Connection.TRANSACTION_REPEATABLE_READ, or Connection.TRANSACTION_SERIALIZABLE. (Note that Connection.TRANSACTION_NONE cannot be used because it specifies that transactions are not supported.)

Throws:
SQLException - if a database access error occurs or the given parameter is not one of the Connection constants
See Also:
DatabaseMetaData.supportsTransactionIsolationLevel(int), getTransactionIsolation()

You will need to do this for each JDBC Connector with its own connection.

TDI class material

2008-06-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

Here are the links for the TDI class:

Presentation: http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=ddnnhc4w_19tsdmvbfk
Lab material: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddnnhc4w_18fs4dpmcc

Creating Business _____ in an IBM Service Management solution

2008-06-07T05:16:00.000-07:00

After doing many, many engagements with Tivoli's discovery tool (TADDM), one issue that always pops up where a business application/service/system should be defined.

Although TADDM has the capability of discovering the components of a business applications (the database servers, web servers, etc), and provides some basic ways to create business application (application template, application descriptor or individually selecting the components), TBSM claims to have better ways to create them.

I admit I'm not an expert in TBSM, and the lawn on the other side of the fence always seems greener, here are the problems I see:

Assuming TBSM indeed has a better mechanism to associate CIs to Business Services, how can TBSM provide this information back to TADDM and CCMDB, so that these products can consume the BA definition for impact assessment, topology, etc ?
The current strategy is to have TADDM as the discovery tool, populating CCMDB, which will perform the Change and Configuration Managements. If TBSM is the creator of the Business Application (or Service), the customer is required to have another problem in the solution architecture, just to create the BAs.

As the lawn in TBSM's backyard seems greener, shouldn't TBSM provide a component TADDM (or CCMDB) can use to create the Business Applications?

By the way, I created a small tool, called Automated Builder of Business Application, inspired in the old TBSM 3.1 ABS that traverses the dependencies of a certain CI and associated the entire connected graph to a Business Application. Take a look and see what you think...