Page History

...

• Mandatory counters: minimum of one Service Time counter    There must be at least one counter defined with the Service Time classification.
  The Service Time counter is the basis for all SLA calculations, Cross-AppTier comparisons, and other processing.
• Optional: Executions    The Executions counter is not mandatory.
  If not specified, Insight treats every record in the Add-on AppTier Collector file as one execution.
• Functional attributes    There are four functional attributes for a counter to consider:

  ...

  • • Counter name. The Counter name is used as an Insight Tool Tip in the Compared by drop-down list and in the report Manager Y-axis legend.

  ...

  • • Counter classification. The Counter classification defines Service Time counters, the Executions counter, and Statistical counters.

  ...

  • • Counter color. Both Insight and Report Manager support a pre-defined color palette.

  ...

  • • Unit of measure. This attribute affects the display format for counter values in Insight and Report Manager. Service Time counters are always time based while the Executions counter is always a number.
      However, Statistical counters can represent either a number of Bytes. If Bytes, they are summed as KiloBytes, MegaBytes, and so on.

  The following are general guidelines:

  • Add-on AppTier name    The Add-on AppTier name is used during plug-in installation of the Add-on AppTier and in StartPoint, AdminPoint, Insight, and Report Manager screens.
  • SLA applicability    You can give Precise users the ability to define SLA levels for activities.
    If provided, Precise used can define SLA levels in AdminPoint for the average Service Time for activities. Insight will calculate the SLA breaches for performance data that is received from the Add-on or Insight SDK Collector.

  About technical design of an Add-on AppTier

  The technical design of an Add-on AppTier involves setting how data will flow from the Add-on AppTier or Insight SDK Collector to Insight, and how the data will be stored in the PMDB.

  Consider the following issues when performing a technical design:

  • Use ARM of file-based collection    You must decide what mode of collection to use. See About guidelines for the technical design of an Add-on AppTier on page 18 for more information.
  • Design the Collector file    Whether you use ARM (Application Response Measurement) or file-based collection, the Collector XML file becomes the vehicle by which the Add-on AppTier or Insight SDK Collector provides data for Precise installation.
    Insight must know how to correctly read and parse the Collector file before it is loaded into the PMDB.

  About guidelines for the technical design of an Add-on AppTier

  The following are guidelines you should follow for the technical design:

  • ARM collection mode    ARM (Application Response Measurement) is an industry standard that is growing in popularity.
    Implementing the ARM standard in the monitored application will open up the monitored application to all monitoring and tuning tools that support this standard. It also allows the tools to probe the monitored application and display performance calculations and perform application analysis.
    Using the ARM standard API solution involves code instrumentation. This is possible only if the Add-on AppTier developer has access to the source code for the monitored application. For example, the Generic Mail Server vendor can implement the ARM standard API by incrementing the application's code.
    Using the ARM standard API, the Insight SDK Collector creates a Collector XML file (a complex process) and aggregates the information after every time slice (every 15 minutes).
    Currently you can implement the ARM standard API for an Add-on AppTier using C language only.
    For more details regarding the ARM standard, refer to http://www.opengroup.org/management/arm/.
  • File collection mode    In the file collection mode, the task of developing the Add-on AppTier Collector rests on the shoulders of the Add-on AppTier developer.
    The Add-on AppTier developer can monitor the application and collect performance data any way that suits his needs. He is not limited by restrictions, such as: API standards, language support, platform support, and so on.
    The Add-on AppTier Collector must create Collector XML files using Precise format and file naming conventions.
    See About ETD file application-level entities on page 30 for more information.
    The Add-on AppTier Collector aggregates performance measurement into 15-minute time slices that are then written into separate Collector files.
  • Entity and counter technical attributes    There are two technical attributes to consider:

    ...

    • • Database column name. This is the name of the database column in the PMDB that stores entity or counter values.

    ...

    • • XML tag name in the Collector file. This is the name of the XML tag in the Add-on AppTier or Insight SDK Collector file that holds values for the entity or counter.

    About developing and testing the Add-on AppTier installation package

    The Add-on AppTier plug-in installation package is a series of metadata XML files that contain all functional and technical attributes for Add-on AppTier entities and counters.

    Testing the Add-on AppTier installation package gives the Add-on AppTier developer his first glimpse into how the Add-on AppTier will display in Insight and Report Manager. The Add-on AppTier installation package also contains the technical specifications to the Add-on AppTier or Insight SDK Collector file.

    About prerequisites for developing an Add-on AppTier installation package

    You need the following prerequisites to develop and test the Add-on AppTier installation package:•    Functional

    • Functional and technical specifications for the Add-on AppTier

    ...

    • Add-on AppTier installation package specifications, as described in see Add-on AppTier installation package descriptor file on page 27.

    ...

    • Insight and Report Manager FocalPoints installed

    About testing the Add-on AppTier installation package

    Perform the following to test the Add-on AppTier installation package:

    • Plug-in the Add-on AppTier package    Plug-in the Add-on AppTier installation package using AdminPoint. This will test whether the installation package is correct and complete. See About installing the Add-on AppTier plug-in installation package on page 21 for more information.
    • Manually create a Collector file and load it to the PMDB    After plugging-in the Add-on AppTier installation package has finished, you need to wait until data is loaded into the PMDB before any information displays through Insight or Report Manager.
      Consequently for testing, you must supply an Add-on AppTier Collector XML file with a sample file. In most cases, a Collector XML file will not exist until you develop the Add-on AppTier Collector. Manually create the Collector XML file according to the XML tag names specified in the Add-on AppTier installation package, and according to file name conventions.
      See About the XML Collector file on page 44 for file name conventions.
      After your Collector XML file is successfully loaded into the PMDB, and Insight and Report Manager display the correct information, the sample Collector file can be used as a reference for the following phases in developing the Add-on AppTier or Insight SDK Collector.

    About developing and testing the Insight SDK Collector

    After testing the Add-on AppTier installation package and an sample Collector file is available as reference, you can write the code for an Insight SDK Collector.

    The Insight SDK Collector collects application-specific information using an ARM (Application Response Measurement) standard API (Application Programming Interface) in the application. It correlates the transactions it receives from the Insight ARM extension dynamic library, within the application, and creates performance files.

    Initializing the Insight ARM extension dynamic library

    Initializing the Insight ARM extension dynamic library begins when the Add-on AppTier application calls to the arm_init function.

    WARNING    Before installing the Insight ARM extension dynamic library, copy the original ARM dynamic library to another directory.

    To initialize the Insight ARM extension dynamic library1.    Create

    1. Create or attach to the shared memory segment holding the configuration.

    ...

    1. Connect to the IPC channel. The IPC channel passes transactions information from the Insight ARM extension dynamic library to the Insight SDK Collector. The IPC channel (UDP port) number is stored in the shared memory.

    ...

    1. Initialize the application and user-defined properties within the parameters for the arm_init function.

    ...

    1. Initialize the transaction hash. This hash includes all user-defined transactions defined while the Add-on AppTier application is running.

    About testing the complete Add-on AppTier solution

    Testing the complete Add-on AppTier solution involves completing the following cycle:•    Plugging

    • Plugging-in the Add-on AppTier using the Add-on AppTier installation package

    ...

    • Defining instances and invoking the Insight SDK Collector

    Place Collector files in the correct directory, where the Precise harvester automatically puts the files into the appropriate directory on the Precise FocalPoint Server.

    Other aspects, such as: performance and scalability for the Add-on AppTier can now be addressed.

    About packaging, deployment, and distribution of an Add-on AppTier

    These are the final steps in developing the Add-on AppTier solution.

    Other aspects, such as: documentation, versioning, licensing, distribution and support should now be addressed.

    About Add-on AppTier registration

    Before distributing an Add-on AppTier installation package to Precise users, send the newly developed and tested Add-on AppTier installation package to the Precise research and development team for review, validation, and certification.

    Your new Add-on AppTier will be allocated a unique tech-code and a user interface titles range to be specified in the ETD file.

    NOTE    For development and testing, you can use a list of pre-allocated tech-code and a user interface titles range specified in, see About the titles file or files on page 40.

    The following information must be sent to the research and development team:•    A

    • A high-level document describing the monitored application

    ...

    • A high-level description describing the purpose and functionality of the Add-on AppTier solution

    ...

    • If using the ARM API option, describe the instrumented transactions and their properties (as passed to the ARM API)

    ...

    • The Add-on AppTier installation package

    ...

    • Optional: target customer and use cases

    ...

    • Contact details for the Add-on AppTier developer

    Email the required information to: dl-rnddevelopment-tpmteamleaders@precise.com

     

    Precise. Performance intelligence from click to storage. Learn more > >

    ...