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This section includes the following topics:
- About developing an Add-on AppTier
- About designing an Add-on AppTier
- About functional design of an Add-on AppTier
- About technical design of an Add-on AppTier
- About developing and testing the Add-on AppTier installation package
- About developing and testing the Insight SDK Collector
- About testing the complete Add-on AppTier solution
- About packaging, deployment, and distribution of an Add-on AppTier
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To describe the Add-on AppTier development process, we will use an imaginary example of an Add-on AppTier application named Generic Mail Server (GMS). GMS provides email services to organizations and enterprises. It was developed by an independent software vendor here-named GMS-ISV.
GMS users are recognized by the application through their login user name. GMS users can log into the application using various devices and from various locations, such as: from their workstation, home desktop computer, laptop computer, or even their cell phone. The system monitors the user's current connection by logging the IP network address for the client device. GMS users can send and receive mail messages which can include attachments such as: documents, pictures, and various other types of files.
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- Design the Add-on AppTier The Design phase studies both functional and technical aspects for all components of the Add-on AppTier. Prepare a specifications document with all of the details.
The Add-on AppTier developer must determine the following regarding the data:- What information will be collected from the monitored application
- How will the information be extracted or sampled
- How will the information be stored and displayed in the Precise product suite
- Develop and test the Add-on AppTier installation package The Add-on AppTier installation package consists of a set of XML files that contain metadata. The XML files define the Add-on AppTier to the Precise product suite and let Precise products correctly parse and display data they receive from an Add-on AppTier Collector.
Testing the installation package lets the Add-on AppTier developer examine how Add-on AppTier information will be displayed to the end user through Insight and Report Manager products. After testing, the developer can redesign the Add-on AppTier to tweak and optimize displays. - Develop and test the SDK Colector The Add-on AppTier installation package and the detailed specifications document (for expected deliverables from the Add-on AppTier Collector) should be ready almost in parallel. Next the Add-on AppTier developer must write code which complies with Precise standards for data format.
The Add-on AppTier developer has two options for developing code:- Write code for an Add-on AppTier Collector, or
- Write code for an ARM API (through an Insight SDK dynamic extension library)
- Test the completed Add-on AppTier solution The Add-on AppTier or Insight SDK Collector should now be functional and the Add-on AppTier installation package complete. The Add-on AppTier installation package specifies what data is expected from the Add-on AppTier or Insight SDK Collector.
Perform integration testing of the complete Add-on AppTier solution to verify correct data flow and communication.
Consider other aspects, such as: usability, performance, and scalability. - Package, deploy, and distribute the Add-on AppTier After testing is complete for the entire Add-on AppTier solution, plan how the installation package and Add-on AppTier or Insight SDK Collector should be packaged and distributed to end users.
Consider other aspects, such as: documentation, versioning, licensing, distribution, and support.
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There are two stages in Add-on AppTier design: functional and technical design.
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- Flat hierarchy of entities Insight and Report Manager do not recognize a hierarchy of entities. There is no tree view and all entities are displayed in identical graphs and tables.
- All counters are applicable to all entities Insight and Report Manager compare all entities according to the same counters; this design is best suited for comparing entities according to performance measurements. This design is less suited for displaying counters that are not applicable to specific entities, such as: instance statistics.
- Maximum of 10 entities and 10 counters Based on the two previous standards for entities, Insight and Report Manager always display all entities compared to all counters. If there are many entities and/or many counters, the screen display or report can become crowded and cumbersome. As a general guideline to follow, create no more than 10 entities and 10 counters.
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The functional design of an Add-on AppTier involves setting how the Add-on AppTier will be displayed in Insight and Report Manager; whether to set it as a standalone AppTier, or in multi-AppTier environments.
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- 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.
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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.
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- 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.
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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.
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- 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.
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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.
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- Create or attach to the shared memory segment holding the configuration.
- 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.
- Initialize the application and user-defined properties within the parameters for the arm_init function.
- Initialize the transaction hash. This hash includes all user-defined transactions defined while the Add-on AppTier application is running.
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Testing the complete Add-on AppTier solution involves completing the following cycle:
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Other aspects, such as: performance and scalability for the Add-on AppTier can now be addressed.
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These are the final steps in developing the Add-on AppTier solution.
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